Sunday: A mixed weekend at Ferrari

Felipe Massa – 6th:

It’s a real disappointment not to have finished this race in a better position. It really seems that from qualifying to the race, we discover another car: yesterday, we weren’t competitive, whereas today we were fighting with the leaders at the end. Unfortunately, with the hard tires, we couldn’t defend our position until the end. The strategy? Now, it’s easy to say that we weren’t on the right one, but we are a team and we make our decisions together. Vettel made the same choice as us, and we had a reasonably similar pace.

« Probably we would have finished on the podium but we need to look at all the details with the engineers. I am happy with my race. I think it was my best Grand Prix of the year and maybe even the best considering last year’s races. We need to find out how to improve the car, especially in qualifying. »

Fernando Alonso – 7th:

I had a bad start. Felipe managed to pass me and a Force India was close to doing the same. Then, it was a great battle in the opening lap. After the first stop, I lost too much time behind Schumacher, so I lost contact with the leading group. I found myself fighting with him again at the end of the race, but the positions were reversed. Once again, it was a great battle, but I would have preferred to fight for a podium finish rather than seventh place.

Unfortunately, our race pace was too slow and I don’t think a different strategy would have changed anything. I’ve had better Sundays in my career, but I’m not discouraged or losing confidence. We know we need to improve to get to the front: McLaren and Mercedes have managed it, and there’s no reason to think we can’t do the same. Clearly, aerodynamics is our Achilles’ heel at the moment and it’s the area we need to work on the most. Eight days ago in Malaysia, we saw encouraging signs, but that wasn’t the case here: the car hasn’t evolved while the others have progressed.