Sunday: Alonso and Ferrari secure their first podium
The Scuderia can smile after Fernando Alonso's podium secured at the end of a race where he was the only one able to keep pace with the Red Bulls. However, Ferrari's weekend was far from calm, and the men of Maranello are far from solving all their problems, as shown by the errors during pit stops that ruined Felipe Massa's race.
Fernando Alonso – 3rd
«I am delighted with this result, which follows three weeks of hard work for the whole team, at Maranello and on the track, this weekend. We didn’t start this Grand Prix on the right foot after encountering some problems on Friday, but we moved forward and today it was great to be fighting for the top positions again. We were already so close to the podium in Malaysia and China and today, we managed to get on it, but this is just a first step: we need to continue in this direction. Given our start to the season, it’s a great result. The next three or four races will be crucial. »
I had a 99% chance of not being able to fight with Vettel and the last percent disappeared when I got stuck behind Rosberg for too long: maybe I could have put him in difficulty, forced him to push a little more.
At the end of the race, Webber overtook me because he had a set of new tires while I didn’t have any left. I know, it seems strange to pit with 11 laps to go, but it was becoming complicated to keep the car on the track and there was a risk of ruining everything.
There are more overtakes, but I think it has more to do with tire behavior than with the adjustable rear wing.
It’s true that the gap in the standings is quite wide, there are still many points to chase: it’s not time to give up yet.
Felipe Massa – 11th:
A lot of things happened today but I wasn’t able to achieve the expected result. It’s shameful. We had a more competitive car and a good race pace. We made the first stops at the right moments but even so, I lost a place to Hamilton. Then I had problems during my 3rd and 4th pit stops. We need to work on these points which are now becoming very important. I fought on the track with the others without getting the best out of our tires unlike what Fernando [Alonso] was able to do. He had a clean race. The positive thing remains our performance improvement. We had more aerodynamic downforce and the straight-line speed was better. It’s a good thing before our updates for Barcelona.
Stefano Domenicali – Team Principal:
« It had been a very long time since we had seen one of our drivers on the podium, and today, we finally managed to do it. Fernando [Alonso] had a very good race. He didn’t make any mistakes and didn’t step outside the lines. He was aggressive when he needed to attack and cautious when the situation was more delicate. I feel much more sorry for Felipe [Massa] who could have had the opportunity to achieve a good result. We need to improve on how we manage this situation [problem in the pits]. »
« We had already seen in qualifying over the first three races that we had good potential, but without making it count. Today, we finally managed it. Alonso was able to overtake Rosberg and put pressure on Vettel until the end. We can’t be satisfied with a third place: the road is still long to be where we want to be. At least we’ve shown that we’re on the right track.
