Lots of pain in Spain for Ferrari and Fernando Alonso: Spanish Grand Prix 2011
Ferrari once again had a disappointing race at Barcelona, and despite Fernando Alonso leading the race for the first 19 laps, they did not manage to even make it to the podium. Stefano Domenicali, the team principal at Ferrari, admitted that Ferrari suffered
a lot of pain in Spain and a plenty of work needs to be done to get the title bid on track.
Fernando Alonso started the race in spectacular fashion and after starting from 4th in the grid, he catapulted to first position moving past Lewis Hamilton, Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel after the first corner.
However, it was expected that the tyres of Ferrari would give in and Alonso would have to make a stop. Fernando failed to create enough daylight between him and the chasing pack, and once he stopped for his first pit stop, he lost the pole and not only that,
all chances of winning his home grand prix.
The big factor for Alonso making headway in the initial stages of the race was that, Ferrari opted to use the faster tyres at the start of the race. That meant that Alonso had to do two stints with the slower and hard compound tyres which meant that he could
not make his way back up to the pole position.
Fernando Alonso, in the end had to be content with what he had and worked hard in the final stages of the race to hold on to 5th position. The extent of impact the slower tyres had on Alonso can be understood by the fact that the eventual race
winner Sebastian Vettel managed to Lap the Spaniard before winning the race.
Meanwhile Felipe Massa, the other Ferrari driver, did not even manage to finish the race.
Ferrari had designed a new rear wing for the Spanish Grand Prix, and the team were very excited about the new upgrade. However FIA deemed the new wing illegal and Ferrari obviously had to make do with the old one at the last minute, which did not help their
cause either.
"There is no denying that being lapped hurts," said Domenicali. "It's even more painful after seeing a driver of Fernando's calibre putting on such a breathtaking display at the start. Then he fought like a lion to keep drivers with clearly faster cars behind
him for almost 20 laps.
Ferrari has not won a title in last three seasons, however, this season is still in their own hands. There are still 16 more races to go and despite the huge gap between them and Red Bull, they still have ample time to catch up. It will all depend on how
well the Italian team can use the upgrades and modifications in next few races. This season Fernando Alonso has managed to get just one podium position in first five races, while Felipe Massa has not even managed to get in Top 5 so far.
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