Sunday: Ferrari and Alonso making progress, Räikkönen disappointed
Different destinies at Sepang for the two Ferrari drivers: after a good start, Kimi Räikkönen suffered the consequences of a collision with Kevin Magnussen and couldn't aim for a top 10 finish. Meanwhile, Fernando Alonso secured a solid 4th place but believes there is still significant work to be done.
Fernando Alonso (No. 14) – 4th
Again in 4th place despite a relatively quiet race, the Spaniard believes Ferrari is moving in the right direction: « The points scored today are the result of a trouble-free weekend, during which the small improvements on the car worked as expected and with reliability. »
There is still work to be done for the reds, particularly in terms of speed: « We obviously have a lot more work to do because while we are moving forward, others are too. Everyone on our team is doing their best to close the gap. There is always a lot to learn in these early races, but it’s no secret that we really need to improve our top speed, as seen in my duel with Hülkenberg. I was able to get him thanks to fresher tires. »
He is already looking ahead to the Bahrain Grand Prix next weekend: « It’s going to be very hot in Bahrain and the tire compounds are soft. This might be an advantage for us because with the hard tires, we slide a lot. Also, based on the data collected during winter testing, we might be able to extract more potential, but that will apply to everyone. »
Kimi Räikkönen (No. 7) – 12th
Disappointment for Iceman who suffered a puncture in the early laps following a touch with Kevin Magnussen’s McLaren: « I am very disappointed with how the race went because I had a good start, but then the collision with Magnussen damaged my right rear tire, which forced me to make an extra pit stop. That took away any chance I had to fight for a good position. »
The rest of the race, he struggled with a car that was more unruly than before the collision: « After the accident, the car’s handling was not the same because the tire caused damage to the floor, resulting in a loss of downforce. With my first set of tires, I had some difficulties, and it was only after the last stop, when I switched to medium tires, that things got better, but by then it was too late. It’s hard to say how things would have gone without this issue because our rivals were very fast, but maybe I could have finished close to Fernando. »
He too is looking ahead to Sakhir to hope to reap the benefits of the Scuderia’s improvements: « It was really an unfortunate day, but overall we managed to improve our performance. Now we have to focus on the positive aspects of the weekend and work to progress starting next week in Bahrain. »
