Friday: Ferrari will give it their all in qualifying
Ferrari is not Red Bull's main rival at Buddh. This morning, Fernando Alonso was stuck in the pits due to a gearbox problem, which didn't seem to disrupt their program too much. The goal will be to perform well in qualifying to aim for a good result on Sunday.
Fernando Alonso – 12th and 15th:
« It was a normal Friday except for the mechanical problem this morning that reduced my track time. Fortunately, it didn’t affect the program. It’s always important to have good sensations on a circuit, especially for testing the tires, which is very important here. We also have an initial idea of our race pace and the level of tire degradation. We must take into account that track conditions will be very different on Sunday. The situation is not different from recent races. We are a bit behind in terms of performance and tomorrow we must try to secure a good position on the grid to get a good start in the race and aim for the podium. »
Felipe Massa – 8th and 7th:
« A positive day. The car was working well and I hope that on Sunday things will go even better because I really like this circuit. On my first lap with the soft tires, I couldn’t achieve a good time due to traffic but I’m quite satisfied with the race simulation I did in the afternoon because I managed to do a lot of laps with the mediums. The degradation is not that significant, so I don’t think we’ll see many pit stops even though we’ll need to be cautious with the softs on the first stint because of graining. The team to beat remains Red Bull but we need to see how the other cars will perform, especially in qualifying because Mercedes and Lotus are very fast. As always, we’ll have to push to the maximum. »
