Alonso: Nothing changed. I think it’s going to be a tough weekend for us
12 April, 2012
Fernando Alonso with Chinese fans in the Shanghai paddock
Apr.12 (PVM) Fernando Alonso, and just about everybody at Ferrari, have been going to great lengths to play down expectations ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix, in the aftermath of the Spaniard’s remarkable win three weeks ago in Malaysia, world championship leader reiterated that nothing has changed and he is expecting a tough weekend as his team have only some minor updates for the F2012 in Shanghai.
Fernando conquered tricky conditions at Sepang to score one of the most unlikely victories of his career
Alonso said, “Nothing changed. I think it’s going to be a tough weekend for us again. I don’t expect any big surprises as we’ve been saying, the team and myself, all week, the car has some small improvements, nothing big for this race and I think it’s the same, more or less, for all the other teams around us in the paddock. So I expect more or less the positions to maintain, or to keep the same as the first two races, which means a difficult to weekend for us.”
The two times world champion predicted, “Struggling to be in Q3, I guess, in qualifying and then in the race to score as many points as possible as we did in the first races – trying to do a good strategy, a good management of the tyres and a little bit of luck. It’s always a factor that we always seem to forget is there.”
“I remember in Australia we had a great team effort from everybody there, a good strategy, pit stops etc, but we also had some luck to get the fifth result and in Malaysia we had the same.”
“Starting from the first corner, we avoided any accident. It seems normal but every first corner is always a risk. We had Grosjean and Schumacher crashing in turn four in Malaysia, which we were very close to being in that accident as well.”
Fernando Alonso during the FIA press conference in Shanghai
“So, it’s always… a race or a grand prix is not only pace, a good strategy or good driving skills. It’s a big package and luck is a big factor. Hopefully the luck is still with us this weekend,” said the winner of 28 grands prix including the 2005 Chinese GP.”
When asked if he was praying for rain, Alonso answered, “It can be a very good weekend for you or very bad because it’s a little bit of gamble in the rain. Anything can happen. You can be with the right tyre in the right moment or completely the wrong tyre in the wrong moment, so this is what happens in wet races.”
“As I said, with a normal race we know our possibilities, we know our limitations at the moment, which is not quick enough. So in a wet race, we can lose a couple of points or we can win a lot more. Maybe this risk of a wet race can be good for us at the moment because in normal conditions we are not as fast as we expected.”
Alonso’s 28th F1 victory in Malaysia puts him fifth in the all time grand prix winners list.
“I’m privileged to be in that group of great drivers that I watched on TV as a kid and now I’m having a good career in Formula 1 and I’ve been extremely privileged to drive for fantastic teams in my career. So, the number of victories will hopefully increase even more and I will be up in this table.”
“Records are not something that you pay a big importance to now, as you concentrated on your next grand prix or you are so focused on your daily preparation that you don’t pay too much attention but I’m sure that in 10 or 15 years time I will appreciate it much more than now. But I’m not paying too much attention now,” admitted the 30 year old from Oviedo.
Related posts:
- Chinese GP Preview: What Shanghai surprise is there for us this weekend?
- FIA drivers press conference ahead of the Australian Grand Prix weekend
- Kubica: It could be quite a tough weekend
- Alonso wants dry weekend in Barcelona
- Alonso: I’m contaminated by Ferrari emotion
