Friday: At Ferrari, Alonso criticizes Pirelli’s choice and Räikkönen works hard
If the day was relatively good for the Ferrari drivers, Fernando Alonso believes that they will need to be smart to do better than the Scuderia's opponents, with particularly conservative tires. As for Kimi Räikkönen, a lot of data has been collected.
Fernando Alonso (No. 14) – 4th and 4th
For the Spaniard, the main problem of the day was the lack of grip on the track: « There wasn’t much grip on the track today and, overall, we struggled a bit more, which was due to a series of factors, including the track being less rubbered in than usual. Additionally, we have less aerodynamic downforce than in the past and also, in my opinion, the tire choice is too conservative for this circuit. »
Ferrari seems to be lagging, and therefore we will have to work as efficiently as possible to hope for an excellent result: « Now, we have to deal with a lot of work to try to optimize the car’s balance and get the most out of it, even if the circumstances are not in our favor. We must be smarter than the others regarding the changes we need and adapt to them in time for qualifying. »
Kimi Räikkönen (No. 7) – 6th and 5th
The day was focused on work and data collection for the Finn: « We had a particularly studious day, trying to complete as many laps as possible to execute the planned program. »
« This morning, we tried different setups, alternating between two rear wings, while in the second session, we focused on preparing for the qualifications and the race and on analyzing the behavior of the two tire compounds that Pirelli brought. We will carefully analyze all the data to decide which direction to take, » he then explained.
