Fernando Alonso seeks confirmation of Ferrari pace
23 March 2013 1:18 AM GMT
A year ago, Fernando Alonso used all the guile of a double world champion to take full advantage of an early rain suspension and register an unlikely Malaysian Grand Prix win in his uncompetitive Ferrari.
This year, after an encouraging second-place finish to Lotus’s Kimi Raikkonen in last week’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix, the Spaniard has plenty of cause for optimism that he can get on the podium again.
‘I think you cannot compare this week’s race to last year, when we struggled to make Q3 (the third round of qualifying) and were nowhere near where we wanted to be,’ Alonso told reporters at Sepang on Thursday.
‘This year, we are better in this aspect and have a competitive car. In Australia, everything worked fine for us and we showed good potential but it is a strange and unusual circuit there, so this weekend for us is a bit of confirmation.
‘We need to confirm that the car is performing well. So after some positive feelings in Australia, this is a very real test for us and we are hoping for a clean weekend with a podium finish a very clear target for us to achieve.’
This year, after an encouraging second-place finish to Lotus’s Kimi Raikkonen in last week’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix, the Spaniard has plenty of cause for optimism that he can get on the podium again.
‘I think you cannot compare this week’s race to last year, when we struggled to make Q3 (the third round of qualifying) and were nowhere near where we wanted to be,’ Alonso told reporters at Sepang on Thursday.
‘This year, we are better in this aspect and have a competitive car. In Australia, everything worked fine for us and we showed good potential but it is a strange and unusual circuit there, so this weekend for us is a bit of confirmation.
‘We need to confirm that the car is performing well. So after some positive feelings in Australia, this is a very real test for us and we are hoping for a clean weekend with a podium finish a very clear target for us to achieve.’
Next Story
