Saturday: Ferrari has a 25% chance of winning according to Alonso
While Ferrari could have hoped to start on the front row tomorrow after solid practice sessions, the Italian team doesn't seem too surprised to have to settle for 4th and 5th places on the grid and is pleased to have made further progress in pure performance.
Fernando Alonso – 3rd and 4th
« We are neither surprised nor disappointed; it’s quite the opposite, actually. This grid is more or less what we could hope for based on what we saw during yesterday’s practice sessions. We thought the Red Bulls would be three or four tenths faster than us, and that was the case. Even Hamilton did very well, especially in the first sector.
In fact, McLaren has brought a lot of new updates here, and you can see that they are working very well. I am happy with my time and my result, and whatever happens, this year, we seem to be getting better and better both in races and in qualifying.
Let’s wait and see what the weather will be like tomorrow as rain is expected. If the race takes place on dry ground, we will have a 25% chance of winning and a little less if it rains, but only because, up until now, the others have been better.
I always aim for the podium, but if the chance to win presents itself, you won’t have to ask me twice to take advantage of it.
On this track, we were also able to see that the developments we introduced have helped improve our performance, race after race. Clearly, we need to take another step forward if we want to get back among the best.
Felipe Massa – 7th and 5th
« I cannot say that I am completely satisfied with this qualification because other cars are faster than ours. It may not be a surprise in the case of Red Bull, but it definitely is with Hamilton’s McLaren.
Tomorrow, we expect to take a step forward in the race, but we know it won’t be easy. Of course, if it had been ten degrees warmer, I wouldn’t have complained. Especially because with the medium tires, we struggled a bit, which is why I used my first set of soft tires right from Q1.
On this track, the tire lifespan is very short, although it wasn’t too penalizing, not even in race conditions.
The big unknown for the race will be the weather: we have the maximum possible aerodynamic downforce, which should help us if it rains. In my case, in the wet, it will be vital to make the most of every opportunity that arises.
