Saturday: Ferrari could not do more

Fernando Alonso (No. 14) – 5th and 5th

The Spanish driver is satisfied with his qualification and notes a closer performance with Red Bull: « Today’s result summarizes the progress of this weekend and it’s more or less what we expected. But I don’t think it’s too bad, because we managed to stay ahead of our rivals, Williams and Force India, and more importantly, we are closer to the Red Bull. »

Having said that, a lot of work was done to get here, as confirmed by the double world champion: “We made more changes than usual here, because we were struggling with understeer and had some issues with braking, and the car has improved a lot. Compared to what we were expecting, the tires seem too hard and we’re fighting a lot to get them up to temperature. If the race is dry tomorrow, then it will be an endurance race. However, if the rain comes, as suggested, then it will be enough to just reach the finish line, and that will already be a good result, because, as we saw on Thursday, it’s really on the edge, like driving on ice.”

Kimi Räikkönen (n°7) – 6th and 6th

The Finnish driver did not succeed in setting up his car as he wanted, and as a result, he is disappointed with his position on the grid: « I am not happy with this qualification, because even though we worked a lot on the setup, making several changes, my feeling with the car has not improved much since Thursday, and I had to fight to find the best solution, and the time lost during the second free practice session certainly did not help. »

Like Alonso, Räikkönen also encounters problems with his tires: « In addition to that, we are not able to make the tires work well here, and in this situation, it is not easy to put together a good lap, especially on a track where you don’t get a second chance. This sixth place is not ideal, but it’s not catastrophic. »