Saturday: Ferrari aims to play a leading role in the race in Shanghai
Good grouping at the forefront for Scuderia Ferrari at the end of the qualifications, Fernando Alonso ranks 3rd and Felipe Massa 5th. Both men are happy with their performances and the competitiveness of the F138. They expect a tough race tomorrow but hope to compete for the leading positions.
Fernando Alonso – 1st and 3rd:
Finishing qualifying with both our cars in the top 5 is a result that fills me with hope for the race. The F138 has been competitive throughout the weekend and this means we’ve made a step forward, which is thanks to the team’s hard work.
Some of the new features introduced here have worked as planned, but others need more work. Regarding the best strategy, we are going to have a long night and that will be the case for everyone, considering that the majority of our rivals will start on softs.
I am not worried about Red Bull’s choice [not to set a time in Q3 to have a choice of tires at the start, ed.] and Mercedes usually has more tire wear than us. I am clearly expecting an interesting race where the biggest threat could come from Räikkönen because the Lotus has also shown that it handles its tires well.
Felipe Massa – 2nd and 5th:
This was a good qualifying session, with the car performing well and being fast. To be honest, after my performance in free practice 2 and 3, I expected to start in the top 3, but it’s likely that our rivals were running with more fuel, and it’s also true that strategy matters more than one or two positions on the grid.
Today’s qualifying session brought various tire choices: we preferred to use the softs from the first stint in Q1, as it seemed difficult to pass with the mediums. This allowed us to save some for tomorrow in a race that is expected to be very competitive and where three pit stops might be necessary.
Today, our main rivals did better than us, but the race is long and anything can happen. Tire management and tactical choices will undoubtedly be key factors.
