Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso says Silverstone Grand Prix pace was genuine – Formula 1 news
Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso has said that his car’s pace was genuine at the British Grand Prix where he secured his first victory of the 2011 Formula 1 season.
Since the off-throttle blown diffusers were banned at Silverstone, it was believed that Ferrari were faster than the rest of the teams because of the pace lost as a result of this ban. However, Alonso has recently cleared this matter and stated that is not
the case and that since his team was improving its car since the past couple of races with a couple of updates, this was their genuine pace.
“The rule changes, as we said there, didn't change anything, because it's not like in Valencia we were tenth. We finished second in Valencia and first in Silverstone, so I don't think the rule changes were beneficial for anyone in particular,” he said.
He added that this pace would be confirmed at the German Grand Prix which is expected to take place at the Nurburgring as the teams will be allowed to use the off-throttle blown this weekend.
It is believed that the Spaniard took the advantage after the Red Bull Racing team faced some pit stop problems but Alonso claims that despite the problems, he would have won the race as he was going faster than the Red Bulls.
“Yes, the pit stop problem helped in the race, because it's always harder to overtake on track. In some races, it's true they passed us during the pit stops because they were quicker than us - and this time they were slower and we beat them this time. Sometimes
they get it right, but in Silverstone they got it wrong,” said the two-time world champion.
Alonso is currently in 3rd place in the drivers’ standings with 112 points which is 92 points short of Sebastian Vettel’s lead.
However, one has to admit that Alonso can still get much closer to the current championship leader if Red Bull fail to be as consistent as they have been in the first half of the 2011 Formula 1 season.
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