Sunday: Alonso and Massa in the points

Fernando Alonso – 7th

« It went much better than we feared, and we managed to limit the damage. We arrived here eight points behind the leader and are leaving with only two more points behind. Finishing these first four races in this situation is positive, even if we cannot deny that we cannot be thrilled about it.

Now, it is clear that we must take a step forward because we cannot always rely on others’ mistakes. For example, we have reduced the point gap with McLaren, something I clearly didn’t think was achievable yesterday. At the same time, we are finishing the race almost a minute behind the leader, which hasn’t happened at all this year so far. I expect Lotus to be very competitive because they have been so throughout the weekend. For the moment, it’s good that it’s not always the same driver scoring all the points, as was the case last year.

Regarding the race, I can’t say more than what I already said in Shanghai last week: the car is almost the same. At times, we were strong, at others less so, it all depends on the behavior of the tires. We lack top speed, and when you’re in a tight duel, it’s penalizing.

For the incident with Rosberg, I can only say that if there had been a wall instead of a run-off area, I’m not sure I would be here to talk about it. It’s a shame because I was just one more straight away from passing di Resta at the end: we could have scored more points.

I have already said before, we must improve the car as quickly as possible: in Barcelona, we will have major updates, but so will the others and we will find out on the Montmelo track how well we have done.

Felipe Massa – 9th

This was clearly not an easy race, but in the end, we managed to do a good job, and for the first time this year, we finish in the points. It’s a good result, but we are aware that it’s not in Ferrari’s DNA to be happy with ninth place. That being said, it’s a performance that gives me confidence for the rest of the season. Clearly, we need to improve the car’s performance as soon as possible to fight for better positions.

In Barcelona, everyone will bring major updates, and we will need to have done a better job than the others because we need to make up for the ground lost at the start of this championship. Regarding the race, I think the decision to keep a set of new Soft tires yesterday was the right one. It’s a shame to have lost a place to Rosberg during a stop: if I had managed to stay ahead of him, maybe I could have achieved a better result. I struggled especially with the rear tires, and at the end of the race, I wasn’t pushing hard because I didn’t want to finish with tire wear issues.