Sunday: Lost Bet for Alonso and Ferrari
By staying on track in the last 20 laps of the race, Fernando Alonso was overtaken by three of his opponents with fresher tires, including Sebastian Vettel, whom he had been ahead of since his first stop. For the Spaniard, it was the only way to snatch victory. Felipe Massa, on the other hand, saw his race spoiled by a spin early in the event, which sent him back into the pack with vibrations.
Fernando Alonso – 5th:
Today, we tried to win the race, but the gamble to make only one stop didn’t pay off. When Hamilton came in for his second stop, we chose to play that card: now, it’s easy to say we should have followed him, but it would have meant not trying anything and also conceding a position to Vettel. The last laps were indeed very long: the tires suddenly gave way, and I was too slow to defend against those coming from behind. My engineer was asking me to hold them off, but there was no way to do it.
The real problem today was tire degradation, and certainly not the strategy, which at most cost us one place, but let’s not forget that it’s the same strategy that allowed us to get ahead of Vettel at the first stop. The car was competitive for almost the entire race: it wasn’t the fastest because here, the McLaren, as expected, was very quick, but we certainly made a step forward in terms of performance.
We need to work on tire degradation: it can be affected by very minor factors such as a few degrees more or less in temperature, although in our case, the set was at the end of its life. It’s not a Tire World Championship, but every detail must be studied to aim for victory.
For the first time this year, we didn’t just try to limit the damage, since we actually had victory as our goal. It’s a positive sign and we need to confirm it at Valencia and Silverstone. For sure, we return home with more confidence in our chances, because this has been the most significant step we’ve taken in terms of development in a long time.
Felipe Massa – 10th:
« I am angry with myself for the mistake in turn 1. I lost contact with the fastest group, and as a result, my tires were vibrating too much, which meant I had to stop earlier. Then I tried to extend the next stint as much as possible, even hoping not to stop anymore. Unfortunately, towards the end, I had to make a second stop because my tires were almost worn down to the wire. Anticipating my last stop might have put me ahead of Kobayashi, but it wouldn’t have changed much.
I am disappointed because we showed that we were competitive: now we are there, fighting with them, which was not the case a few races ago. This 10th place surely does not reflect our potential. Now, it is vital to continue working in this direction: it has been a weekend where we have always fought for the leading positions and we have improved everywhere, and this should be a boost of confidence for the rest of the season.
