Friday: Ferrari uses intermediates too quickly

Fernando Alonso – 20th and 4th

«It was quite a difficult Friday, with changing weather, which did not allow us to draw any conclusions for the rest of the weekend. Considering that it shouldn’t rain tomorrow or Sunday, it becomes clear how little interest this day held. The goal is still to do our best and, in this case, understand the behavior of the car on this circuit. We also had a new front wing to test, but it’s always very difficult to evaluate in such conditions, conditions that seemed ideal for the McLarens by the way. We need more laps to get the tires up to temperature, and once we are there, the tires seem to already be degraded. We will have to improvise a bit during the qualifying session and for the race. The pit lane entry is much better than last year, but there is still room for improvement when it comes to the exit. »

Felipe Massa – 19th and 7th

«It has been a difficult day. The track didn’t offer us much grip, and the degradation of the intermediates seemed to be more significant than usual: there are no other explanations for the fact that, even though a dry line was emerging, the lap times were not better. Obviously, this complicates the preparation for qualifying and the race, but it’s the same for everyone. The exit of the pit lane is complicated, as everyone saw with the accident between Rosberg and Alguersuari: I think efforts should be made to improve it in the future. Participating in 150 Formula 1 races is a great achievement: the ones I remember the most are the ones I won, and that includes Brazil 2008. My worst memories? Races like Hungary and Singapore this year, where victory seemed within my grasp but eventually slipped through my fingers. »