Alonso boosted by Massa woe

[davewilson]

Defending world champion Fernando Alonso believes his chances of victory at the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday have been enhanced by rival Felipe Massa’s technical problems.

Alonso lines up alongside pole-sitter Kimi Raikkonen on the front row, with the Finn’s Ferrari team-mate Massa down in 16th place after gearbox issues during qualifying.

Now Alonso is determined to push Raikkonen all the way as he begins his charge for a third world title on the Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne.

The Spaniard said: “We will do our best in the race and push 100% from the beginning to the end.

“It is the only way we are going to score points for the team and for ourselves so I think for sure it is a little better and easier for us if Felipe (Massa) is not at the front because he has been very competitive until now.

“So it is good to have him at the back of us, but I think the approach will be more or less the same, to do our best.”


After impressing throughout winter testing and in the practice sessions in the build-up to the race, Massa’s gearbox problem suggests Ferrari’s good form is not guaranteed to last into the race.


And Alonso is unsure exactly how they will perform over a full-length event.


He said: “It is difficult to say because they have been very strong here in the long runs on Friday and Saturday morning so to be honest I have to say they would be quicker and we should have a little bit of a hard time if we want to beat them.


“But, as we saw, Felipe stops with a gearbox problem so the race is 58 laps and we have to be there if we want to win, so we have to push them and fingers crossed we should be in the points.”


Alonso’s new rookie team-mate Lewis Hamilton paid tribute to his McLaren team after he made a superb start to his Formula One career in qualifying fourth.


The 22-year-old Briton, who made the step up from GP2 to F1 at the end of last season impressed throughout the throughout the three stages of qualifying.


With so much attention on Hamilton across the racing world, the youngster has looked calm and confident throughout the build-up for the Australian GP.


And Hamilton thanked his team for preparing him to the best of their ability ahead of the event to ensure his debut GP goes as smoothly as possible.


He continued: “They put together a very good programme for preparing me physically, about the car and the whole procedure of the weekend.


“They have done a great job with that, we have worked extremely hard and the team have done a fantastic job.


“I haven’t come into the weekend and thought ‘wow I wasn’t expecting that’ and so everything went to plan.”


It was the first official chance for Hamilton and Alonso to try out McLaren’s new MP4-22 car in competitive racing, and the Hertfordshire man admitted everything went smoothly.


He added: “We didn’t seem to have any problems. It was fairly similar to experiences I have had before but having three sessions is quite intense, especially the last one.


“The car felt very good and I got some clean laps and didn’t have any mistakes, I managed to finish every lap and maximise every lap.


“The last lap I did could probably have been better but there is always room for improvement.”

The Stig

[Ian]

Lewis was good was'nt he, stung Alonso a bit, should be interesting tomorrow should'nt it, felt sorry for Felipe but if they sort his gearbox problems out I think he'll have the bit between his teeth tomorrow, can't wait to see.

[romephius]

The commentators for the telecast here are absolutely drilling alson, everytime Lewis out does an Alonso time they are pointing it out and making a huge fuss.......so funny to watch and hear, maybe that will take down Alonso a peg.