Singapore GP: Fernando Alonso says Ferrari now has to improve to win title

[vcs316]

Fernando Alonso says Ferrari "must" improve its form for the upcoming races after a disappointing weekend in Singapore so far the Italian squad.

Alonso, who said before the weekend that he expected Ferrari to be competitive this weekend, qualified down in fifth position, nearly a second off the pace in a car not as strong as his main rivals'.

The championship leader, 37 points ahead of Singapore poleman Lewis Hamilton, admitted Ferrari cannot afford to go into the back-to-back races in Japan and Korea with such a big pace gap to its rivals.

"I was expecting more on Thursday when I got here because you think it can be a better circuit for you," said Alonso. "But after yesterday we saw we weren't as quick as in Monza right from the first laps.

"So being fifth today is probably a bit better than the average this year.

"But we have to score points tomorrow and then we must improve for Suzuka and Korea, because you can't be 1.5 seconds behind your rivals."

Nonetheless, Alonso said Ferrari could be pleased with his qualifying performance given his car's form at Marina Bay.

"I think we can be satisfied," he added. "We haven't been very quick all weekend so fifth is probably the maximum we were hoping for.

"Fifth here is probably better than fourth because you start from the clean side and it can be important. So it's been a good day.

"But anyway, not being in the fight with the best all weekend has been the worst news."

Alonso remains open about his chances of finishing on the podium on Sunday, but he admits the first priority is to finish the race.

"We'll see how the race goes. The important thing is to have a good race and score a lot of points. The top priority is to finish the race, and if the others are faster we'll have to congratulate them.

"It's going to be very open and we'll have to be there knowing we need points."

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/102773?

[Hornet]

Earlier this year, Pat Fry have said Ferrari needs to change the way they operates before we can become competitive again:

“I don’t really want to go into where all the problems are – it’s not just a case of us trying to build a quicker car, we need to fundamentally be changing the methodologies that we use to select, design and manufacture so that we are competitive long term,” Fry said over the weekend. “There’s work on all fronts, not just work going into what we’re taking to Barcelona, there’s also a huge amount of work in just trying to change the fundamentals of what we do so we can actually take a step forward and be competing with everyone else.”

http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2012/0...-shortcomings/

I believe there's some changes needed somewhere in the process we use to bring updates, they have to look at why we have trouble getting certain updates to work on track. IIRC, in the past we've seen the team bringing front wing to test and not use it, only to do the same thing in the following race. Don't know if its data correlation issues but seeing how Ferrari used the young driver test to test the correlation thing, I suspect Ferrari might still have some things to solve there.

We don't know what changes Ferrari have made, the ones Pat Fry mentioned about the methodology the team use, but hopefully something is being done and it will help us become competitive again in the future.

[Giallo 550]

Fernando Alonso is...

[anialonso]

Fernando Alonso says Ferrari now has to improve to win title

But looking at the recent races..its not a matter of How can we improve the car if we do not get the updates working..
They are really costing Fernando the title..

[Rishu]

Fernando Alonso says Ferrari now has to improve to win title

But looking at the recent races..its not a matter of How can we improve the car if we do not get the updates working..
They are really costing Fernando the title..

Ferrari racing all the updates except RW. Maybe its the Ferrari engine which is not suited to street circuits, all Ferrari powered cars starting way back

[mark p]

Earlier this year, Pat Fry have said Ferrari needs to change the way they operates before we can become competitive again:

http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2012/0...-shortcomings/

I believe there's some changes needed somewhere in the process we use to bring updates, they have to look at why we have trouble getting certain updates to work on track. IIRC, in the past we've seen the team bringing front wing to test and not use it, only to do the same thing in the following race. Don't know if its data correlation issues but seeing how Ferrari used the young driver test to test the correlation thing, I suspect Ferrari might still have some things to solve there.

We don't know what changes Ferrari have made, the ones Pat Fry mentioned about the methodology the team use, but hopefully something is being done and it will help us become competitive again in the future.

Ydt used for correlation improvements but Singapoure parts would have been already designed and built so if ytd data improvements were made future upgrades should work better.

[scuderiafan]

they are slowly getting there. What I don't get is that the updates for Canada were fine, but not now.

[EL NANO]

Lets face it this car has been a problem chikd from the beggining and if Alonso wins the WDC it would be one of the biggest feats in F1 history!! without ALO we would be in no mans land.... GO FERRARI

[scuderiafan]

lol, how quickly an opinion changes. at Monza it was a beast, no it has always been a problem child. this car is not bad, but it seems that at tracks like this RedBull is better, and so is the improved McLaren.

at Suzuka I expect Ferrari to be further up there, the main problem right now is the wings and getting them to work. I they do, I hope they can provide the benefit to take the fight to McLaren.

and anyways, we all have been here long enough to know Ferrari is a qualifying mess. let's see what happens in the race before we go crazy anyways.

[mark p]

they are slowly getting there. What I don't get is that the updates for Canada were fine, but not now.

Canada parts were tested on track at Mugello but had to then be made so arrived at Canada. Since all updates have had to rely on cfd and wintunnels hence the drop off? Just speculating but seems logical.

[zike]

Why can we solve the cfd problem?

[eddie]

it should be "improve more than our rivals"...

we made some positive improvements, just that our rivals made 2 steps more.

but having said that I am confident, if any team can make it happen, its Ferrari

[Dino]

Ferrari racing all the updates except RW. Maybe its the Ferrari engine which is not suited to street circuits, all Ferrari powered cars starting way back

It is not the engine.While Vettel was running away,
Webber with his Renault/Red Bull could'nt match Daniel Ricciardo in the Ferrari/Toro Rosso even in the DRS zone!!

[Rishu]

It is not the engine.While Vettel was running away,
Webber with his Renault/Red Bull could'nt match Daniel Ricciardo in the Ferrari/Toro Rosso even in the DRS zone!!

Webber has been a sloutch lately, not concerned about him. Kimi, Gro, Vet, Maldonado (all Renault) did well. Look at Alonso, Massa, Perez(all Ferrari), below their car's potential.