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SAO PAULO, Brazil – Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso is hoping for rain for the 2011 Brazilian F1 GP seeing as he has to start down in fifth place.
"If it really rains tomorrow,” the former champion said, “it will be a very exciting and open race. Nobody really knows how competitive they can be in the wet and then it requires next to nothing - one lap more or less on track at a time when the conditions change to turn around a situation that looks set in stone."
EXPECTED WORSE...
Alonso said he was surprised by the pace of his Ferrari in Saturday's qualifying though it was the ninth time the Spaniard has qualified fifth in 2011 as the team struggled to stay with Red Bull and McLaren.
However, Alonso wound up just 0.1sec off fourth-placed Lewis Hamilton’s pace and 0.3sec behind the McLaren driver’s team mate Jenson Button who will start third and, he said, he had been expecting a much tougher challenge from Mercedes.
"My subscription to fifth place has been extended for one more Saturday," Alonso joked. "This time, however, getting to my classic place on the grid was a bit more of a struggle. We are not very pleased with the balance of the car - we were expecting a very competitive Mercedes.
“However, in Q3, we got much closer to the McLarens than we expected and the first of the Mercedes’ was left a few tenths back; we got a little more out than our potential indicated."
...AND MORE
His Ferrari team mate and home-town star Felipe Massa was left frustrated after struggling with the balance of his car and being forced to settle for seventh on the grid.
"I was expecting more from - I cannot be happy with seventh," Massa said. "Unfortunately, we were unable to find the right balance throughout the weekend."
Stay with Wheels24 for the F1 weekend.
"If it really rains tomorrow,” the former champion said, “it will be a very exciting and open race. Nobody really knows how competitive they can be in the wet and then it requires next to nothing - one lap more or less on track at a time when the conditions change to turn around a situation that looks set in stone."
EXPECTED WORSE...
Alonso said he was surprised by the pace of his Ferrari in Saturday's qualifying though it was the ninth time the Spaniard has qualified fifth in 2011 as the team struggled to stay with Red Bull and McLaren.
However, Alonso wound up just 0.1sec off fourth-placed Lewis Hamilton’s pace and 0.3sec behind the McLaren driver’s team mate Jenson Button who will start third and, he said, he had been expecting a much tougher challenge from Mercedes.
"My subscription to fifth place has been extended for one more Saturday," Alonso joked. "This time, however, getting to my classic place on the grid was a bit more of a struggle. We are not very pleased with the balance of the car - we were expecting a very competitive Mercedes.
“However, in Q3, we got much closer to the McLarens than we expected and the first of the Mercedes’ was left a few tenths back; we got a little more out than our potential indicated."
...AND MORE
His Ferrari team mate and home-town star Felipe Massa was left frustrated after struggling with the balance of his car and being forced to settle for seventh on the grid.
"I was expecting more from - I cannot be happy with seventh," Massa said. "Unfortunately, we were unable to find the right balance throughout the weekend."
Stay with Wheels24 for the F1 weekend.