Fernando Alonso has openly admitted that Ferrari appear to be in the same position they were at the Singapore Grand Prix, in terms of raw car pace at Suzuka. Although the Spaniard was second only to Jenson Button’s McLaren in free practice on Friday, Red Bull’s long-run speed continues to exceed that of the rest of the field.
“This year we have seen all the teams go through so many highs and lows - with the exception of Red Bull - depending on which track we are at, so we should not be too surprised if today it seems that we have done better than in Singapore for example,” explains the Japanese Grand Prix winner of 2006.
“And then, today is only Friday; it’s happened before that the first day has been like this and then we have not managed to do any better than fifth in qualifying.
“In fact, I don’t think that things are so different to what they were two weeks ago, especially as our cars are pretty much unchanged. We hope to be able to fight with McLaren and Red Bull, but we know it won’t be easy. What we can say is that the feeling from today is a little bit more encouraging than in previous races.
“Also, we must bear in mind that the races have been much more open than in the past, when the final result did not differ that much from the grid positions; strategy, tyre degradation and DRS create much more uncertainty and spectacle. For example, I think that we will see a lot more overtaking here than in past years.”
Series
Formula 1
Personalities
Fernando Alonso
Teams
Ferrari
Other
Get your official Formula 1 tickets at Sportstadium.com
| Fernando Alonso | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 |  |  |  |
| More Fernando Alonso photos | |||
English
Nederlands
Español
Italiano
