Ferrari caught out by low grip at Silverstone
Ferrari endured a particularly difficult qualifying session at Silverstone, resulting in its cars qualifying in poor 10th and 12th positions for tomorrow's Great Britain Grand Prix.
Fernando Alonso: “This weekend has been complicated for us by problems that we haven’t managed to get on top of, concerning various aspects such as the balance of the car, its driveability and performance. We can consider this the worst Saturday of the season so far, having never finished so far down, but now we must react immediately to try and return to the form we showed at the start of the year. We definitely expected a lot more here, because this is a track that suits our car’s characteristics better than others. In Q3, we hesitated a bit over tyre choice: we went out on the Hards because they had worked well in free practice this morning and in Q1. Then we switched to Medium with the idea of just coming back to the pits if it did not go well but then we decided to finish the lap and nevertheless our rivals were quicker. Now, we must try to do the same, starting from tomorrow: even if the race will be an uphill struggle we are well aware how things can change during a race. We hope we can stage a good climb up the order and bring home as many points as possible”.
Felipe Massa: “It was an extremely difficult day as we did not have the car we were expecting and we had no grip whatsoever with new tyres. Compared to other cars, we struggled to put together a good lap. The time lost when I went off the track yesterday and the interruption this morning to change the engine definitely cost me valuable kilometres and in qualifying I lacked the few tenths necessary to make it through to Q3. Now we must think about tomorrow, as the race is an altogether different matter and I hope that, with a full fuel load and higher temperatures, things can change in our favour. If the car is more competitive, I’m sure I can pull off a few passing moves and fight for a good result”.
Pat Fry, Technical director: “Today, the much awaited sunshine didn’t manage to push the temperatures up as much as we had hoped, especially on the track. The surface stayed rather cold and already in the final free practice this morning had created some problems with grip, with several drivers going off the track. Things only improved slightly in qualifying, but not enough to improve the grip levels. Looking at our start positions, it’s obvious that our cars suffered more than others, even if the gaps in the small group of cars ahead of Fernando are very close. While trying to improve the balance on the car, we tested various solutions, trying to increase driveability in both the high and low speed corners, always keeping in mind what will be the key factors in tomorrow’s race. We can be more confident when it comes to the race and we will be counting on the performance we have seen over a long run, which is encouraging. During the opening laps it will be important to try and make up a few places. Then, our strategy will be aimed at helping the drivers as much as possible in their efforts to close up to our direct rivals”.
