Alonso is thinking about the podium for the Barcelona race

Even if his Ferrari did not allow him to secure pole position in front of his home crowd, Fernando Alonso believes that the Maranello team has significantly improved the F138 since the start of the season, especially this weekend with the new updates introduced for the beginning of the European season.

« We have improved, especially on Saturday and Sunday, the car is still very competitive. On Saturday, we are still missing a few tenths, and today it was no surprise to see the Mercedes 3 or 4 tenths faster in pole position, » Alonso stated during a press briefing after the qualifying session.

The double Spanish world champion would have liked to do better, but he remains confident given Ferrari’s pace in the last Grand Prix: « We would have liked to have a better position but it’s time to change this statistic where the winner started from the front row, so hopefully we can fight for the victory tomorrow. »

He believes that if a victory is not possible, a podium finish is very achievable and that’s what he’ll be striving for: « The car is not as strong on a single lap as some others, but in the race, our pace is as fast as others, if not faster, so we should be able to score big points tomorrow. We need to be optimistic and maybe we’ll be on the podium tomorrow at the end of the race. »

Alonso would like to be able to finish ahead of those in front of him on the grid for the championship: « Sebastian is currently first in the championship and Kimi second, so it would be good to be able to finish ahead of them. »

The Spanish driver also shared that the Ferrari team had decided to make two attempts during the third part of the qualifying session to maximize their chances in case the wind, still very present today, would offer a gain at the beginning or end of the session.

From our special correspondent in Barcelona