Spa Francorchamps Update: Still too early to predict anything says Fernando Alonso
After scoring the fastest laps in both sessions of the Friday Practice, Fernando Alonso still believes that the race and qualifying at Spa Francorchamps will have different conditions.
Alonso stayed on the top of lap times despite heavy rain during the first session and also maintained his pace in the second session when the track dried out. “The impression one gets on Friday doesn’t always get confirmed on Saturday and Sunday, therefore, we have to evaluate today's results with a lot of care. Having said that, it has definitely been a positive day, because the car seem to respond well in all track conditions that we encountered”, said Alonso.
He added, “the times matter little or in fact, they do not matter at all because as the track conditions change quickly, times can improve or get worse by even two or three seconds. It all depends on the moment when you are out on the circuit.” Alonso predicted that there will be more surprises in store before the end of the Grand Prix on Sunday as stormy weather is expected for the rest of the weekend. The Spaniard thinks that the weather will play an important part in the qualifying session as well as the race.
The team is trying to test all the new gadgets they have installed as anything can happen at Spa. According to Fernando, the team will improve its setup if the weather is dry on the qualifying session, as the car is still not performing at its best with slicks since they did not have much time to practice. It felt as if the car was nervous during the dry weather, while it was much easier to drive in wet conditions. The former champion said that in order to secure a pole position in qualifying, they would have to consider the weather conditions also. If it rains, then they may go out earlier because learning from bad experiences will benefit in the future.
Fernando Alonso began his Formula 1 journey in 2001 with Minardi before joining Renault. The Spaniard won the championship twice with the team and was the only driver to beat Michael Schumacher in 5 years. The former champion had a rough time after leaving McLaren in 2009 but signed with Ferrari for 2010 securing him a promising season. Fernando won a total of 23 races and scored 58 podiums with 18 pole positions.
Alonso has been performing at his best since the last two races and scored a total of 43 points including a win. He is just 20 points behind the leader Mark Webber, who has a total of 161 points. Fernando is one of the favorites of this championship as he has a great car and expects a lot from his team. The 29-year-old has 4 competitors ahead of him. Lewis Hamilton is in 2nd place ahead of Sebastian Vettel who is at 3rd followed by Jenson Button at the 4th place. There are just seven races left including the Spa Francorchamps and this race will have a huge impact on the rest of the season.
Meanwhile, Felipe Massa agreed with his teammate’s statement that it is never easy to predict where the team will stand after qualifying. The Brazilian had finished 5th fastest in the second session."It is only Friday, so we will have to wait to see how the Red Bulls go, given that, so far they have proved to be the quickest cars, as demonstrated in qualifying. We had so many things to test today, which explains a few slow laps this afternoon”, said Massa.
The Brazilian immediately had good grip with intermediate tires and the situation was not that bad on the slicks either. The car felt good on the soft tires as well during the final lap but Felipe admitted he made a mistake. However, there is still room for improvement and that is what the team will focus on tomorrow.
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