Saturday recap: Ferrari – The best of the rest

The Scuderia Ferrari drivers once again delivered a lackluster performance in qualifying. In 5th, Fernando Alonso couldn’t hope for better, trailing by nearly a second behind the formidable Vettel/Hamilton duo and just over six-tenths behind Button, in 4th. Massa, for his part, once again fell behind his Spanish teammate, losing nearly five-tenths to him.

Fernando Alonso – 6th and 5th

« We were not fast enough in Australia and we are not here in Malaysia either, at least not enough to fight for pole position. From what we have seen over these two races, there are two teams that have worked better than us over the winter and we clearly need to make progress in terms of performance, and there is no secret about it: we need to take a serious step forward, be aggressive in our development to make up for lost ground.

At the same time, we must stay calm and focused and bring back as many points as possible by taking advantage of all the opportunities that come our way. The championship is very long, and last year, we saw how the situation can constantly change from one race to another. So, I think this fifth place is a positive result because a lot can happen tomorrow, especially if it rains.

Last night and this morning after the free practice sessions, we improved the car’s setup and I felt more comfortable than yesterday. I will start on the clean side of the track, which is never a bad thing, but it’s difficult to make predictions for the race. Yesterday, we saw a very high level of tire degradation and we can expect three or four pit stops.

On Sunday in Melbourne, our pace was close to that of McLaren and I was able to fight with Webber, but McLaren was closer to us than they are here.

Felipe Massa – 8th and 7th

« It was certainly not one of the easiest qualifications, especially considering the times the top four were able to achieve. We fought with the others, but it is clear that compared to the best, we will be in a defensive race tomorrow. From a strategic point of view, if the race is held on dry conditions, we can expect three or four stops. If it really rains, then anything can happen, and we must be ready for any eventuality. Today, the best result we could hope for was fifth. I wasn’t able to achieve that, partly because I didn’t do a perfect lap, but at least I’ll start on the clean side of the track [in 7th position]. We know we lack aerodynamic support and we are working on it. »

Pat Fry

We are where we deserve to be right now, with two more competitive teams ahead of us. In qualifying, we made the most of our potential. We are far from the top, one second in fact, and we are well aware that we need to improve many things to be where Scuderia should be. We decided to use a set of soft tires as early as Q1 because the performance difference between the two types of tires is much greater than last year, so it was pointless to take risks at that time. Obviously, this choice penalized us in Q3, where our two drivers could only do one timed run with the last set of tires available, but for the moment, it’s the best strategy.

There are strong chances of rain tomorrow, and we are well aware that, here in Sepang, it can mean a major storm. We will need to be very cautious to ensure we make the right decision at the right time.