Fernando Alonso’s post-qualifying feelings at Albert Park did not reflect the way the Spaniard was feeling after spinning out in Q2. He and Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa will start the 2012 season from lowly positions of 12th and 16th.
Pushing over the limit in a car which has been unstable since the start of pre-season testing, Alonso spun at Turn 1 after approaching the corner with two wheels on the grass.
“It went like this: I got a bit on the grass under braking, the car took off on its own and I found myself in the gravel,” he explained. “I had managed to keep the engine running and was hoping the marshals would be able to push me back on track. Tomorrow we will be racing defensively and will try and do what we can, hopefully making the most of having four sets of new tyres.
“It’s true our target at the start of the year was to fight for the win right from the beginning, and we have not managed that, but this will be a long season and all we can do is work on improving performance…there’s no point getting angry as it does not serve any purpose.”
Massa echoed his team-mate’s sentiments, having struggled all day:
“I am very disappointed; this is not the start to the season I was expecting or hoping for. It was difficult right from the start of FP3 - the balance of the car was never what I wanted and I never managed to get a clean lap. I was always lacking grip, both on the Mediums and the Softs, and I suffered with oversteer on entry and understeer on exit. I don’t know why, but the car seemed to be worse than in winter testing, maybe down to the characteristics of this circuit.”
- Alonso's Turn 1 spin can be viewed at GPUpdate TV
Series
Formula 1
Personalities
Felipe Massa
Fernando Alonso
Teams
Ferrari
Other
Get your official Formula 1 tickets at Sportstadium.com
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |  L. Hamilton | McLaren | 01:24.922 | 14 |
| 2. | J. Button | McLaren | 01:25.074 | 15 |
| 3. | R. Grosjean | Lotus | 01:25.302 | 21 |
| 4. | M. Schumacher | Mercedes | 01:25.336 | 18 |
| 5. | M. Webber | Red Bull | 01:25.651 | 17 |
| 6. | S. Vettel | Red Bull | 01:25.668 | 18 |
| 7. | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | 01:25.686 | 16 |
| 8. | P. Maldonado | Williams | 01:25.908 | 20 |
| 9. | N. Hulkenberg | Force India | 01:26.451 | 18 |
| 10. | D. Ricciardo | Toro Rosso | no time | 16 |
| Full results | ||||
| Fernando Alonso | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 |  |  |  |
| More Fernando Alonso photos | |||
| Felipe Massa | |||
 |  |  |  |
| More Felipe Massa photos | |||
English
Nederlands
Español
Italiano
