Alonso fired up by improving Ferrari
Despite finishing only in a distant 8th Fernando Alonso was delighted to see his car getting up to the speed of the rivals’ machineries. The two-time champion was hampered by a long list of technical problems.
The Spaniard’s race was compromised even before it started because of a low battery which prevented the team to fire up the car. Since a mechanic had to jump back to the car to get it going after the ultimate signal before the warm-up lap Fernando had to serve a 5-second penalty. It meant he was stuck in traffic for most of the race. Struggling from fuel pump and KERS glitches the Spaniard couldn’t pass Magnussen’s McLaren who held him up for most of the race.
„Without the penalty I could have got onto the podium with ease”, said Alonso.
„With the Mercedes of Hamilton out of the game we could have aimed for the podium. We had a good pace, with Raikkönen fighting for third place right until the end. Unfortunately my car didn't want to start, we had to use an extra battery for the start so I lost valuable ground.”
Ferrari opted for a lowish downforce package, but not for the Monza-spec aero configuration as rival Red Bull. It meant the cars of the Prancing Horse were very vulnarable on the straights. On top of that Fernando lost most of his KERS.
„We knew that the top speed would be our weak point so we won’t be able to overtake anyone. I had a loss of about 140 horse power because of the hybrid systems. For most of the weekend we also had issues with the fuel pump. I have to say we are improving slowly, because the new bits seem to work. Now we have to look forward and think of Monza which is a circuit that won’t make our life any easier since it also has lots of straights.”
