Alonso fired up by Sepang speed

[Sianellen]

By Jonathan Noble Monday, April 11th 2011, 14:15 GMT


Fernando Alonso says Ferrari has reason to feel more upbeat about its situation after producing some encouraging pace during the Malaysian Grand Prix.

Although the Spaniard's chances of finishing on the podium were dashed after he damaged his front wing in a collision with Lewis Hamilton, Alonso had produced lap times during the race that were a match for everybody apart from Sebastian Vettel.

That pace, which came just 24 hours after a fairly disappointing qualifying highlighted that Ferrari had much work to do to lift its single-lap performance, has left Alonso encouraged for the title fight ahead.

"It was a fantastic day for us to see that we were able to fight with McLaren and to fight with [Mark] Webber as well," he explained. "We did that a little bit in Australia too, fighting with Jenson [Button] and Webber.

"But, for whatever reason, we are struggling a little bit more on Saturday. On Sunday we feel a little bit more confident and much more comfortable to drive the car.

"We wear maybe a little bit less the tyres than the others, so we can keep more consistent laps and here was a very good feeling. We did not expect to be fighting with them, so there is a very positive atmosphere now in the team after the race - and we can arrive in China much more happy."

Despite feeling that there were positives to take out of Malaysia, Alonso is under no illusions how hard things will be in China - with the low temperatures set to hit Ferrari's struggles to get tyres up to the right operating window.

"It will not be an easy weekend for us," he said. "In China in five days' time we will be running there in free practice. There is not much time to change cars, so I expect difficult pace, and a difficult weekend again.

"But the race is long. In qualifying [in Malaysia] it seemed the first four cars were unbeatable, but in the race, with everything normal, we were [set to finish] second or third.

"So we arrive to China knowing that it will be difficult but we will have some opportunities if we do things right. We need to keep working in a good direction, as we did here.

"In Australia we were not quick enough in qualifying, but in the race we were struggling a lot and were 40-50 seconds behind the leader. Here, I leave Sepang much happier because we were fighting with them."


http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/90645

[sv_godspeed]

not to forget that even if Seb qualified almost 1.5 secs ahead of Felipe but in the race, he was "just" 36 secs ahead. thats less than 0.5 secs/ lap even allowing for the messy pitstop...

[Curbs]

But Seb had more in reserve...

[scuderiafan]

Lets just hope he isnt fired up and takes his wing off again.

[Tony]

Lets just hope he isnt fired up and takes his wing off again.

My sentiments exactly!

[UPz]

It ended in a dissastrous result, but I'm happy with it.
Felipe had a strong performance. Alonso had a superb race.
On the Alonso side, if he didn't touch Ham, I'm sure he will have attacked Jenson on the last 6 laps.
And, at this stage of the championship I prefeer to take risks than taking out the calculator. Hamilton weaving at the straight and Fernando without the DRS... that for sure fired up Alonso's character... But mistake inside, a superb race.
Alonso racepace was superb. A lot of nice laps, faster than McLarens and faulty Webber's RBR.

I'm having a nice feeling... just bring back the 2010 monza front wing and adapt it to the F150th...

[Agron]

But Seb had more in reserve...

I doubt that, at some points in the race he could really feel Hamilton and others breath on the back of his neck, figuratively speaking. IMO he was pushing as much as he could for most of the race.

[Alessandra]

The thing that impressed me most about FA in Malaysia was his asking , I don't know how many laps from the end end, but quite some, what tyres Hamilton was on! To me that indicated that from a long way out he knew Hamilton was his prey! And he so very nearly got him.
He knew Vettel wasn't, on that day, a possibility, but whilst driving fast and faultlessly, he was simultaneously weighing up when LH was likely to pit, what tyres he'd need to change to and what he, Alonso, would need to put in to catch and overtake him.
That's a gift very few others on the track have so I think we should keep the faith up to Sepang and way beyond!

[Nova]

RedBull are beatable....
I was also impressed w/Felipe..he looks to be getting his feet back..

[Katu]

The thing that impressed me most about FA in Malaysia was his asking , I don't know how many laps from the end end, but quite some, what tyres Hamilton was on! To me that indicated that from a long way out he knew Hamilton was his prey! And he so very nearly got him.

i was most impressed by how calm he sounded talking in radio

[theforce]

can someone remember what Andrea asked him and Alonso's response was something like, 'don't worry mate,........'

[scuderiafan]

he said 'We need you to push'

and he said 'don't you worry, i'm pushing'

[sagi58]

I don't remember which race it was, last year; but, this reminds me of when Alonso
told the pitwall he didn't want any more communications from them!!

That and a woman in labour!!

[crewskas]

he said 'We need you to push'

and he said 'don't you worry, i'm pushing'

But what the Ferrari box, was all about?
Here it is:

[impactX]

bahaha love that transmission. So calm and controlled.

[theforce]

Nice, thanks for the sound clip

[scuderiafan]

But what the Ferrari box, was all about?
Here it is:

WHAT THE HELL MAECHANICS!!!!! no wonder we are off pace! they are too busy looking at their screens to pay attention to the race.

and that is probably why our pitstops were rubbish. i bet the pit crew were drooling when they were meant to be doing their work!!

None of that please.

[Hornet]

WHAT THE HELL MAECHANICS!!!!! no wonder we are off pace! they are too busy looking at their screens to pay attention to the race.

and that is probably why our pitstops were rubbish. i bet the pit crew were drooling when they were meant to be doing their work!!

None of that please.

The funny thing is we could probably do that when we were as dominating as in 2004, just to rub it in our competitors

[scuderiafan]

lol i dont think it has any effect on the McLaren guys, so we cant sabotage them with this. why dont we get it shipped to RB when theyre doing their stops. a little pop-up would do the damage.