quoteBritish GP qualifying: Alonso says Ferrari needs faster decisions By Ben Anderson and Pablo Elizalde Saturday, July 5th 2014, 15:09 GMT
Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, British Grand Prix qualifying
Fernando Alonso says his Ferrari Formula 1 team needs to improve its decision-making procedures in order to avoid situations like going out in Q1 during qualifying for the British Grand Prix.
Both the Spaniard and team-mate Kimi Raikkonen failed to reach Q2 after going out on slicks just before the rain hit Silverstone in the dying moment of the first qualifying segment.
With the duo not having set a competitive enough time before the rain came, both were knocked out, with Alonso 19th and Raikkonen 20th. It was the first time Alonso missed Q2 since the 2010 Monaco Grand Prix.
The double world champion admitted Ferrari needs to work on speeding up its communication process, having been in this situation before.
"We know there are two Williams and two Ferraris out of Q1, so there's definitely something wrong compared to the other teams because when both cars are out in a session like this it's because you were in the wrong moment with the wrong tyre," said Alonso.
"That's something we need to look at. It's true that it has happened some other times, and we were saved many times by luck.
"We need to do better next time. I think the bigger teams have longer procedures than smaller teams, so we need to speed up some of the communications and some of the things that we do."
While team-mate Raikkonen believed Ferrari was unlucky with the weather, claiming it did not risk anything by switching to slicks when it did, Alonso said the fault ultimately lay with the team.
"It's something we need to improve, but at the same time it's a very narrow line," he added, before conceding he had banished thoughts of staying in the title fight this year.
"If the rain had come two minutes earlier these people would be in the wall now, and people would ask [them] 'why do you put dry tyres while the track is still wet?'"
"But I agree that there were some cars on dry tyres today a couple of minutes before us doing green sectors and we were in the garage. So we need to improve that for next time.
"I think if anyone apart from Rosberg and Hamilton tells you that they believe they can be world champion this year they will lie. And I don't like to lie." http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/114826
quote Kimi:"Car wont go straight even on straights. I really don't understand."
quoteFansOfKimiRäikkönen @FansOfKR So #Kimi spent this whole #FP2 with setup testing but seems like he still didn't get proper understanding of the car.
Great Maybe he should change his vehicle
Oskari Saari made some reserch and it turned out Kimis team was once again messing up. They found out there was a fundamental set up error in his car. This begins to sound a bit weird to me. Oskari Saari said he had to dig the information as Ferrari wasnt open with the matter. Oskari Saari also found out that Valtteri Bottas had less power in his car than Massa in the last race in Austria. It was because his car had an old part that controls the fuel flow and they had to put the power down from Valtteris car as Massa then again had a new part in his car an he didnt have the problem. The part costs 5000 euros and Saari said Williams simply doesnt have enough money to put the new parts to both car immediately. Bigger teams have 30 of those in their spare parts.
I hope Ferrari fixed the error in set-up for the race.
What makes me angry is those kind of things happen often to Kimi in Ferrari but no one hears about them but in Finland.
quote Ferrari Fernando Alonso (19th, Q1 - 1:45.935) “When it rains in qualifying it’s always a lottery, it can go well or it can go badly. Most of all, it’s easy to make mistakes. At complicated moments like this, you need to fit the right tyres at the right time, but luck definitely plays a part. I think if we had fitted the Mediums thirty seconds earlier or later, with a dry track, things could have gone differently. In the race tomorrow, we will try and make up as much ground as possible. Yesterday, in the dry, we had a strong pace and even in the wet, as we saw on the first lap in Q1, it seems quite good. Mixed conditions might help us, but here it’s impossible to know now what the weather will do tomorrow. One thing for sure, is that starting so far back, we will see a lot of action.”
Kimi Raikkonen (20th, Q1 - 1:46.684) “We knew the changeable weather would make this qualifying very unpredictable, but I definitely didn’t expect this sort of result. On my first run, I did four laps on Intermediate tyres because the track was still wet, but then when it stopped raining we decided to switch to slicks. On the first part of the track, the conditions were acceptable, but in the second sector, it began raining again and this prevented us from setting a good enough time to get into Q2. Tomorrow, it won't be easy moving up the order, but we will do our best to make up ground, also because today I had a better feeling than yesterday and I see no reason why I shouldn’t try and have a good race.”
Pat Fry, Ferrari chassis director “Today’s qualifying result is bitterly disappointing and it means we will have an uphill struggle tomorrow, with a plan to attack right from the first to the last lap. In the opening minutes of Q1 the track conditions were mixed, which is the worst thing possible, because at some points there was a lot of water while other parts of the circuit were drying and some were even completely dry. It was impossible to improve on the intermediates because of graining and the switch to slicks definitely complicated matters for the drivers as there was so little grip. When the lap times fell as the track began to dry, we fitted the mediums, as in fact did everyone else, but the rain returned and that meant we were unable to make it through to the next part of qualifying. Now, our aim in tomorrow’s race is to finish in the points, trying to make the most of the new sets of tyres we have.”
if i know Kimi only a bit i know that he did not want a celebration. it would be another pr thing at a time when he must be really frustrated. he would have to act being nice to people he does not care about. so i'm sure there is relief in him that there is no celebration. and i'm also sure he does not care about the concept of such "anniversaries"
I agree with you Olga. It´s not that it would fit to him, to celebrate it in the kind Felipe did. But a cake with a "200. GP" and some nice pictures would not have hurt him and Ferrari.
Print view
Sat Jul 05, 2014 12:57 pm
reply
for Kimi tomorrow with Chilton infront, Ericksson behind and rain all over.
