alo_oficial : "3;38h de bici! Entrenando con buen tiempo.. / 3:38h bicycle! Good weather today.."

“3;38h de bici! Entrenando con buen tiempo.. / 3:38h bicycle! Good weather today..”

(Español) LAS GORRAS DE FERNANDO YA TIENEN DUEÑO

Sorry, this entry is only available in Español.

FERNANDO SECOND IN MONTMELÓ AND LEADING THE CHAMPIONSHIP

Another two sided afternoon for Scuderia Ferrari, with one driver on the podium and one out of the points. Fernando Alonso finished second at the end of a race in which he was in contention for the win from start to finish, while Felipe Massa finished fifteenth, having been given a penalty at a crucial point. With the first quarter of the championship completed, Fernando leads the Drivers’ championship equal on points with Vettel, while the Scuderia remains fourth in the Constructors.

Fernando Alonso: “This second place feels like a victory. Having finished the race in Sakhir almost a minute off the winner, today we overtook one of the two Red Bulls and we fought right to the very end for the win. On top of that, we have made up a lot of points on the Red Bull and the McLaren drivers, which makes the outcome of this weekend even more positive. At the end of the second stint of the race came the key moment: maybe Maldonaldo pitted a bit early and we stayed out on track, but we lost time behind a backmarker for a whole lap, partly because there was a yellow flag on the last part of the main straight. Then, with seven laps to go, I suddenly lost grip at the rear: I asked the team if something was broken because the handling of the car changed from one moment to the next, for no apparent reason. However, in the final stages, the Williams was still very quick and, right at the end, we were also lucky to hang onto second place as Kimi was coming back at me. This championship is very hard to interpret with all the different winners and the performance of the top teams going up and down from race to race. We definitely did not do the best job when it came to designing the car – there is still much to do – but we can be proud of how we got the most out of our potential, probably over and above the limits of the car. After two Grands Prix – China and Bahrain – where we suffered a lot, to be back for the podium is very positive and gives us confidence for the rest of the Championship. We must continue to bring updates all the time for the car, because it is all very close and the slightest thing can make the difference.”

ALONSO SHINES IN FRONT OF HOME CROWD

Fernando Alonso GP Spain

There were two sides to qualifying for Scuderia Ferrari, as Fernando Alonso was third fastest, while Felipe Massa ended Q2 only in seventeenth place. The Spanish driver’s position is the best result since Saturday at Silverstone in 2011. Both drivers were on identical tyre useage programmes during the first two parts of the session: one set of Hard and then one of Soft in Q1, then one used and one new set of Soft in Q2. This meant for the first time this year, Fernando was finally able to tackle Q3 on a level footing with the others.

Fernando Alonso: “This third place is not what we had expected. We were counting on making a step forward that would allow us to get into Q3 with less difficulty than in the first races of the season and we managed it. But we certainly did not think we could be so high up the grid. I don’t know if this position is a true reflection of our car’s performance – it’s definitely not normal for a Red Bull and a McLaren to be eliminated in Q2 and that the other Red Bull gets into Q3 with no sets of new Soft tyre available – but what is certain is that the new parts we have brought here have resulted in us taking a step in the right direction: sure, it’s not yet enough to fight for the very top places. It’s a good basis to start from for this weekend, but the points come tomorrow. We will try and get a good start, especially as some of my main opponents in the title fight start behind us and we must try and make the most of that. Tyre performance will be a critical factor: we will have to be careful, because the forecast is for different temperatures to today and that could throw up some surprises. Racing in front of this amazing crowd always gives me some extra motivation!”