Alonso- 6th was possible

[rocks.ral]

Fernando Alonso is convinced he could have finished in sixth position in the Chinese Grand Prix at the very least, had it not been for the traffic.

The Ferrari driver, the winner of the previous race in Malaysia, had to settle for ninth in Shanghai, behind the two Williams drivers and Lotus's Romain Grosjean.

Alonso said he could have beaten the trio easily had he not been stuck in traffic all race long.

He admitted, however, that today's performance was a truer reflection of where Ferrari stands in the competitive order.

"This is probably a most realistic position than what we saw in Australia or Malaysia especially," Alonso told reporters.

"But I'm convinced that in a race without traffic or with some clean air in front the car would have been quicker than it was, because we couldn't do a single free lap.

"So I think we are a little bit further up, or I want to believe that we would have finished ahead of Williams and Grosjean without too many difficulties."

The Spaniard, who dropped from first to third in the drivers' standings after the Chinese event, said he is expecting next weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix to be Ferrari's worst race so far.

"We have Bahrain next week, which in theory it could be the worst for us. The car is lacking top speed and traction, and Bahrain is nothing else but traction and top speed, so I guess it's going to be an even more complicated weekend than the previous ones.

"And then we will improve for Barcelona, but we will improve three of four tenths. That's the improvement most teams have for Europe. So if we improve five or six tenths and the rest four, then we'll gain two tenths."

Team-mate Felipe Massa finished in 13th position - the Brazilian is yet to score a point this year.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/98874

[FerrariF60]

Fernando Alonso is convinced he could have finished in sixth position in the Chinese Grand Prix at the very least, had it not been for the traffic.

The Ferrari driver, the winner of the previous race in Malaysia, had to settle for ninth in Shanghai, behind the two Williams drivers and Lotus's Romain Grosjean.

Alonso said he could have beaten the trio easily had he not been stuck in traffic all race long.

He admitted, however, that today's performance was a truer reflection of where Ferrari stands in the competitive order.

"This is probably a most realistic position than what we saw in Australia or Malaysia especially," Alonso told reporters.

"But I'm convinced that in a race without traffic or with some clean air in front the car would have been quicker than it was, because we couldn't do a single free lap.

"So I think we are a little bit further up, or I want to believe that we would have finished ahead of Williams and Grosjean without too many difficulties."

The Spaniard, who dropped from first to third in the drivers' standings after the Chinese event, said he is expecting next weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix to be Ferrari's worst race so far.

"We have Bahrain next week, which in theory it could be the worst for us. The car is lacking top speed and traction, and Bahrain is nothing else but traction and top speed, so I guess it's going to be an even more complicated weekend than the previous ones.

"And then we will improve for Barcelona, but we will improve three of four tenths. That's the improvement most teams have for Europe. So if we improve five or six tenths and the rest four, then we'll gain two tenths."

Team-mate Felipe Massa finished in 13th position - the Brazilian is yet to score a point this year.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/98874

...so what exactly does this mean???
we know we're still ONE second off the best in Qualifying, so i'm now gonna play with some numbers just like Alonso like to do:

so if true what Alonso says (about the BIG package in Barca, tested at Mugello in May for the first time of course), gaining at most 6 tenths from it and the other's gaining 4 tenths, taht puts us AHEAD 2 tenths...

but let's not forget that AS OF NOW, we're still ONE second off the best, so in other words after all that work (taking assumptions that our upgrades will work), we're still gonna be 8 TENTHS off the best..Am i right, or have I missed something in my math calculations???

....so it looks like a never ending catch up we're gonna have to do for the remainder of the season...that's why it COUNTS so much having a HALF decent car OUTTA the box and then improving it throughout the season, something FERRARI HAVE FAILED TO DO SO FOR THREE YEARS IN A ROW....

please excuse my CAPS, but i'm p***ed OFF just like most of you fans are...i'm sure i ain't the only one..
Forza Ferrari

[Hornet]

When you start the season 1 second off other top teams, the reality is that trying to beat them will be a huge challenge. This is why Flavio knew last year that there was no way Ferrari could recover such deficit we had in the beginning. Its not about recovering 1 second now, its about out-developing the competitors by 1 second worth of performance!

If Alonso is right, gaining 6 tenths from those updates would be AMAZING. Its not easy gaining 6 tenths out of nowhere.

We can only hope McLaren don't find 4 tenths by the time we go to Barcelona :-G But we have to be prepare for that, as Alonso did.

[rocks.ral]

...so what exactly does this mean???
we know we're still ONE second off the best in Qualifying, so i'm now gonna play with some numbers just like Alonso like to do:

so if true what Alonso says (about the BIG package in Barca, tested at Mugello in May for the first time of course), gaining at most 6 tenths from it and the other's gaining 4 tenths, taht puts us AHEAD 2 tenths...

but let's not forget that AS OF NOW, we're still ONE second off the best, so in other words after all that work (taking assumptions that our upgrades will work), we're still gonna be 8 TENTHS off the best..Am i right, or have I missed something in my math calculations???

....so it looks like a never ending catch up we're gonna have to do for the remainder of the season...that's why it COUNTS so much having a HALF decent car OUTTA the box and then improving it throughout the season, something FERRARI HAVE FAILED TO DO SO FOR THREE YEARS IN A ROW....

please excuse my CAPS, but i'm p***ed OFF just like most of you fans are...i'm sure i ain't the only one..
Forza Ferrari

u r indeed missing out a lot.. he means.. they have already made 4 tenths with the smaller upgrades they brought to China and if u look carefully they weren't 1 sec off.. and with 6 tenths they make out of the parts they r gonna test at Mugello.. he feels they will make an extra 2 tenths... although most of this depends on how these parts work on the car and if successful, we can see a real change in the title hunt since we r still third in the WDC.

[Jose-Lorca Fan]

Barcelona is the all telling track, if our car is rubbish there we can say goodbye, but until then i remain optimistic. If Ferrari are anticipating 0.6 tenths improvement and it turn out that way i will be happy. Somehow the leading pack seem so close this year and for that reason i doubt they will be making big improvements. 4 tenths is a lot for cars already leading the pack imo... Let's hope it's more like 0.2

[rocks.ral]

also he means the other teams will bring in upgrades for the races in Europe, by which he means the Scuderia will have time after Barcelona to make up for the rest... as Ferrari fans we have to accept whatever they throw at us and believe we can gain those tenths.. i hope Alonso is right and we can start fighting for wins straight from Barcelona.. Massa really needs a good car to consolidate for what he has done for quite sometime now...

[FerrariF60]

u r indeed missing out a lot.. he means.. they have already made 4 tenths with the smaller upgrades they brought to China and if u look carefully they weren't 1 sec off.. and with 6 tenths they make out of the parts they r gonna test at Mugello.. he feels they will make an extra 2 tenths... although most of this depends on how these parts work on the car and if successful, we can see a real change in the title hunt since we r still third in the WDC.

How can you say that as of chinese GP we’re not ONE second off still from the best times posted in quali??
Clearly Nico did a 1:35.121 on his quali lap, Schumi did a 1:35.691 and Lewser did a 1:35.626
And what did Ferrari do??? And when I say Ferrari I mean Alonso (as Massa we all know is a lost cause)...that’s right, he did a 1:36.622, that to me is WAY off the pace by at LEAST one second

So if everyone improves based on those times alone, I think we’re still gonna be on the back foot of catching up, since even if we gain 6 tenths, my feeling is that it WON”T be enough to fight with the BIG BOYS, let alone WIN races...

but then again, that is just me and my pessimistic side...although i DO want to be optimistic, i'm not a die hard Ferrari fan for nothing...

[tmcstocker]

Think he is saying the car is a turd.. We all can fight and argue, some can be optomistic, some pessimistic and we can go round in circles and find ourselves back where we started with nothing having changed. Alonso is a mega driver, ferrari is a legend and both together can do many great things but the sooner we accept that the f2012 is a turd the better. Now we can all argue what is and what is not acceptable for a great team that set about making this car early last year but it is up to the top players of the team to decide how to go forwards and we have to trust them to do this.
I love my team and always will but it is painful and sad to see the calamity that is ferrari f1 at the minute. I hope they can do what needs to be done and soon and make us proud again.
Forza Ferrari.

[sav_pap]

Until now whatever Alo says comes true. So I have faith in him and in the team generally. It's so awful always to be the hunter (the last three years at least) but we can't do anything else.

[giodap]

if i was alonso, and i was talking to the press about what to expect about the pace of the car after the mugello test, i would try and downplay it as much as possible, because if you said "yes were going to close the gap to the front runners" and it didnt happen, you would look stupid. so i am expecting some pritty drastic "do or die" upgrades after the test...... COME ON guys!! things can only get better!! :) forza ferrari

[rocks.ral]

How can you say that as of chinese GP we’re not ONE second off still from the best times posted in quali??
Clearly Nico did a 1:35.121 on his quali lap, Schumi did a 1:35.691 and Lewser did a 1:35.626
And what did Ferrari do??? And when I say Ferrari I mean Alonso (as Massa we all know is a lost cause)...that’s right, he did a 1:36.622, that to me is WAY off the pace by at LEAST one second

So if everyone improves based on those times alone, I think we’re still gonna be on the back foot of catching up, since even if we gain 6 tenths, my feeling is that it WON”T be enough to fight with the BIG BOYS, let alone WIN races...

but then again, that is just me and my pessimistic side...although i DO want to be optimistic, i'm not a die hard Ferrari fan for nothing...

U cannot look at lap times with those perspectives... look at ferrari alone... Roseberg did a gaint lap the last time around and being Schumi himself couldn even get close to it... Ferrari in comparison with the times they did in Australia and malaysia should have been in the 1 min 37s but with the smaller upgrades working, they did a 1m 36.. that is how u should compare times.. we are improving on small grounds until Mugello test and after that is another story.. to be or not to be is all in the hands of Ferrari.. like u said, as die hard fans we got to be optimistic about it...

[Kingdom Hearts]

Think he is saying the car is a turd.. We all can fight and argue, some can be optomistic, some pessimistic and we can go round in circles and find ourselves back where we started with nothing having changed. Alonso is a mega driver, ferrari is a legend and both together can do many great things but the sooner we accept that the f2012 is a turd the better. Now we can all argue what is and what is not acceptable for a great team that set about making this car early last year but it is up to the top players of the team to decide how to go forwards and we have to trust them to do this.
I love my team and always will but it is painful and sad to see the calamity that is ferrari f1 at the minute. I hope they can do what needs to be done and soon and make us proud again.
Forza Ferrari.

+1

Even if we are not good enough in Barcelona, I can't help to have hope, but the realistic thing is that this season will be a bad season again, because Ferrari current form, and the rivals now are strong and there are many, At least we won one race, that records is still alive.

[Tifoso]

I feel sorry for Alonso. The man is a driving genius and he's been stuck with carp cars since he got here.

[FerrariF60]

I feel sorry for Alonso. The man is a driving genius and he's been stuck with carp cars since he got here.

i bet DEEP down he's thinking the same thing to himself; also he's probably thinking and hoping at the same time that it won't take Ferrari 4+ years to develop a fast dominating car like it took them when Schumi came to Ferrari back in '96 and Ferrari only started dominating and winning championships by 2000

[AvantiAlonsoWDC]

i bet DEEP down he's thinking the same thing to himself; also he's probably thinking and hoping at the same time that it won't take Ferrari 4+ years to develop a fast dominating car like it took them when Schumi came to Ferrari back in '96 and Ferrari only started dominating and winning championships by 2000

Unfortunately that's impossible not to think of it, but since he came to Ferrari he seems to be much happier and his attitude towards the team is much different than his attitude towards Renault (McLaren isn't a good example). For example, if he had lost a WdC in 05 or 06 with Renault there would've been massive problems whereas in Ferrari he feels close to the team and both got over it and keep on fighting .And team now has the leader Ferrari's been missing since Schumacher left, a leader who's guiding them through a time that ,without such a driver, would've one of the darkest times of the Scuderia.
Being Ferrari 1st driver is a big deal. That says a lot about a driver.
And that's something he probably takes into account when thinking about his current situation.

PD: Continuing with positive thinking, I think we all somehow know that sooner or later (sooner please:pray) Ferrari and Alonso will get those deserved championships.
:ferrarifl Forza Ferrari :ferrarifl

[FER]

i bet DEEP down he's thinking the same thing to himself; also he's probably thinking and hoping at the same time that it won't take Ferrari 4+ years to develop a fast dominating car like it took them when Schumi came to Ferrari back in '96 and Ferrari only started dominating and winning championships by 2000

You are missing an important detail. After Schumacher came to Ferrari there was no season worse than the previous one. Now we have another situation getting slower and farther from the top every new season. In short: to make any associations to Michael's stay in Ferrari is wrong at this stage.

[Muhammad Ansib]

people have hope and remain optimistic,look at 2010 Silverstone when Alonso didnt even finished on the podium and afterwards bravely claimed that Ferrari will fight for the WDC.Many commentators said it was just a reguler comment to motivate but in Fact it was absolutely true.If Alonso says that they are in the hunt for WDC again in 2012,he will be again right hopefully.Forza Ferrari

[Tifoso]

i bet DEEP down he's thinking the same thing to himself; also he's probably thinking and hoping at the same time that it won't take Ferrari 4+ years to develop a fast dominating car like it took them when Schumi came to Ferrari back in '96 and Ferrari only started dominating and winning championships by 2000


By 1999 (WCC ;-) )

[Corey]

2010 wasn't too bad, they even turned things around well through the summer to have a winning car for the 2nd half of the season. I bet such a comeback from the guys at Maranello is possible, if they get things pointing at the right direction.

[Stormsearcher]

2010 wasn't too bad, they even turned things around well through the summer to have a winning car for the 2nd half of the season. I bet such a comeback from the guys at Maranello is be possible, if they get things pointing at the right direction.

I take heart from this too. We can fight back.

[LightAmaterasu]

Think he is saying the car is a turd.. We all can fight and argue, some can be optomistic, some pessimistic and we can go round in circles and find ourselves back where we started with nothing having changed. Alonso is a mega driver, ferrari is a legend and both together can do many great things but the sooner we accept that the f2012 is a turd the better. Now we can all argue what is and what is not acceptable for a great team that set about making this car early last year but it is up to the top players of the team to decide how to go forwards and we have to trust them to do this.
I love my team and always will but it is painful and sad to see the calamity that is ferrari f1 at the minute. I hope they can do what needs to be done and soon and make us proud again.
Forza Ferrari.

:thumb i totally agree.

[m8g1c]

6th was possible because Alonso was in front of Vettel and Roman before his final pit stop. What screwed them over is the tyres were lasting longer and the Renault and Red Bull switched to a 2 stopper so net result was Alonso behind them