Fernando Alonso believes he can fight for a podium finish in tomorrow’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, despite missing out on pole position by more than half a second. The Ferrari man finished fifth fastest in Q3, behind both Red Bull and McLaren drivers.
"We are more or less where we expected to be," said Alonso. "It’s not because this is the eighth time out of eighteen qualifying sessions that I have ended up fifth. It’s that, all year long, with a few rare exceptions, McLaren and Red Bull are stronger than us on Saturday, while on Sunday the situation is usually different, with the gaps between us being much closer.
"We know we can fight for the podium, but to succeed, we will have to do everything perfectly, beginning with the start and our strategy. In Q3, I thought of doing just one run, but it was not perfect and we preferred to try everything right to the end.
"I will start from the clean side of the track and hope to make up some places: the first lap is a good window of opportunity. Tomorrow it will be interesting to see how the tyres will behave from the start to the finish of the race, as the temperature drops."
Further post-qualifying feelings from Ferrari:
Old front wing cost me time, says Massa
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| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |  S. Vettel | Red Bull | 01:38.481 | 16 |
| 2. | L. Hamilton | McLaren | 01:38.622 | 15 |
| 3. | J. Button | McLaren | 01:38.631 | 14 |
| 4. | M. Webber | Red Bull | 01:38.858 | 19 |
| 5. | F. Alonso | Ferrari | 01:39.058 | 16 |
| 6. | F. Massa | Ferrari | 01:39.695 | 20 |
| 7. | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | 01:39.773 | 17 |
| 8. | M. Schumacher | Mercedes | 01:40.662 | 18 |
| 9. | A. Sutil | Force India | 01:40.768 | 17 |
| 10. | P. di Resta | Force India | no time | 15 |
| Full results | ||||
| Fernando Alonso | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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| More Fernando Alonso photos | |||
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