Realistic or not, judge for yourselves, but I commend their dedication and fighting spirit. As long as the team doesn't give up, we don't give up!!!
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Ferrari retains F1 championship hope despite poor Spanish GP
By Paul Logothetis, The Associated Press – 1 hour ago
BARCELONA, Spain — Ferrari still expects to turn around its Formula One season despite a poor performance at the Spanish Grand Prix where leading driver Fernando Alonso was lapped by race winner Sebastian Vettel.
Alonso finished fifth and teammate Felipe Massa retired after sliding off the track while trying just to finish in the points.
Alonso, who is fifth overall and trails F1 leader Vettel by 67 points, says "there's still time" to recover, starting with the Monaco GP on May 29.
"We've seen before the championship can change in a matter of races so you have to maintain hope," the two-time world champion said Sunday from the Catalunya Circuit.
Alonso said the European GP on Valencia's street circuit in June would be the time to evaluate the team's championship hopes, and believes next Sunday's street race in Monaco will provide a chance to rebound from this performance.
"We suffered from a real lack of downforce. But the gap to Red Bull is more or less the same as it was last year going into Monaco and we were competitive there, so maybe we can be again," Alonso said. "Let's see what happens because there is still time — the championship can change in a matter of races, just as we saw last year."
Team principal Stefano Domenicali stopped short of calling the Italian team's "worst race of the season" embarrassing, but said improvements must be made although the championship remained a possibility with at least 14 races to go.
"Of course it's a shame," Domenicali said.
Alonso's brave start took him into the lead from fourth place by the first corner, but he could only hold the Red Bulls up before they took over following the second round of stops after 18 laps. Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button were on the podium to confirm McLaren as the closest team to Red Bull.
"I don't think his pace was very good in the race and basically he stayed in front because people couldn't overtake," Button said of Vettel.
Alonso's third-place finish in Turkey is the team's sole podium of the season. The Spanish driver is fifth, trailing leader Vettel by 67 points after five races.
"We still see a light," Domenicali said. "We need to work hard, we want to keep alive as long as possible. There's still a chance."
Domenicali said the gap in tire performance between soft and hard tires was too great to overcome, as was Red Bull's dominating pace.
"Two weeks ago, Ferrari was the main competition and today not," Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said.
Copyright © 2011 The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
Link: http://www.google.com/hostednews/can...?docId=6923258
Originally Posted by de Portago
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