I couldn't afford to make a mistake - Alonso
Double world champion and Renault F1 Team driver Fernando Alonso reflects on a busy weekend at the Shanghai International Circuit in China and reveals his hopes for the race. The Spaniard will start the Chinese Grand Prix from the front row, on second position.
"Our weekend so far has been quite strange. This morning the car was almost completely new for us and, after just three laps of free practice, we had to go and start qualifying. So we went into it completely blind and didn't really know what to expect or how the R29 would behave. So I'm delighted with today's result, which is a great reward for the whole team as they have been working 24 hours a day in Enstone for the last few weeks in order to produce these new parts in time."
What were you thinking as the session began?"I told myself that I could not afford to mess up. The diffuser was here; it had been designed, produced, transported and fitted to the car. So I knew I had to do a good job. I could not allow myself to make a mistake. This second place today is the result of a real team effort."
What has changed with the diffuser in terms of the car's balance?"The first few races were not a disaster. The car was ok, but just not quick enough. By finding two or three tenths of a second per lap, it's possible to make up 8 or 9 places on the grid. That is why this season is so interesting: the smallest change can make a big difference as we have shown today. The team has improved the car and straight away we are at the front. Of course, you always have to take fuel loads into consideration, but we made it easily though to Q3 and we haven't done that for a while."
Why are you not using KERS this weekend?"We know that the advantages of the system depend on the type of circuit and on this occasion we have decided to run without it. Plus, we experienced some problems in Malaysia with the rain as it got into the system and so it was not ideal in terms of safety."
Finally, what do you feel is possible in the weeks to come?"It will take a bit of time for us to get 100% from the car we have at the moment. We will bring lots of new developments to each race and we will have to get used to them, but today has shown that we are moving in the right direction. The results are improving and that is going to continue, but we need to work even harder to catch up with the quicker cars."
