Ferrari: Alonso stars, Massa struggles

2011 Spanish GP team review

May 23, 2011 at 4:10 pm by Keith Collantine

Ferrari’s weekend got off to a troubled start as they were forbidden from using the new rear wing which they ran for the first time in Friday practice.

	Fernando Alonso	Felipe Massa
Qualifying position	4	8
Qualifying time comparison (Q3)	1’21.964 (-0.924)	1’22.888
Race position	5
Laps	65/66	58/66
Pit stops	4	3

Ferrari drivers’ lap times throughout the race (in seconds):

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/charts/2011drivercolours.csv

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39	40	41	42	43	44	45	46	47	48	49	50	51	52	53	54	55	56	57	58	59	60	61
Fernando Alonso	94.494	90.812	90.606	90.012	90.318	90.039	90.007	90.164	90.303	92.825	108.222	89.323	89.809	89.778	89.856	89.898	90.316	90.475	92.615	105.987	88.878	88.737	89.003	89.67	89.332	89.538	89.543	89.828	92.309	108.274	90.417	90.511	91.255	91.092	90.364	91.462	90.712	90.601	92.837	107.534	90.526	89.989	89.817	89.977	90.299	90.106	90.064	90.642	90.557	91.085	90.615	90.523	91.456	90.208	90.475	90.248	90.531	90.362	90.581	90.491	90.038
Felipe Massa	99.979	92.589	92.187	92.103	91.895	91.839	91.897	92.087	92.012	93.074	96.365	107.941	91.307	90.707	91.43	91.783	91.291	91.082	90.93	91.065	93.836	107.668	90.223	89.081	89.942	89.386	89.518	89.964	90.917	90.396	90.259	90.91	91.048	90.867	91.879	94.786	110.369	94.224	90.593	90.635	90.438	91.057	92.775	91.396	90.644	90.727	90.814	91.023	90.614	93.359	90.834	90.718	90.888	91.064	90.296	90.966	91.103	92.777

Fernando Alonso, Sebastian Vettel, Barcelona, 2011

Fernando Alonso

With a new Ferrari contract in his pocket Fernando Alonso was in exceptional form on home ground.

He described his qualifying lap as “perfect”, splitting the McLarens to take fourth on the grid.

His start with both technically brilliant and gutsy. Alonso admitted, “we have worked so much on this area and you could see the outcome”.

The onboard replay showed he kept his finger on the KERS button even as Sebastian Vettel darted left and right in front of him. Alonso dived down the inside of Mark Webber to take a shock lead.

But the 150° Italia wasn’t quick enough for him to pull away. By lap 17 he had both Red Bulls and Lewis Hamilton queued up within 2.4 seconds of him.

Having failed to save any soft tyres during qualifying – Ferrari send him out on softs in Q1 – he quickly burned through the faster tyres and was on hards before lap 30.

The car’s pace was even worse on these tyres, yet he managed to keep Webber at pay. The Red Bull got by at turn ten on lap 35 but Alonso neatly reversed the pass on the way out.

Four laps later he was in for another set of tyres and Webber jumped ahead of him by delaying his stop for another eight laps.

But with the two Mercedes holding each other up Alonso’s fifth place was safe.

Alonso said: “I tried to do the maximum, keeping the quickest ones behind me for around twenty laps, but after that, there was nothing I could do.

“It was very stressful having them filling my mirrors all the time and we tried as much as possible to copy or anticipate their moves. That meant doing over the half the race on the hards, which penalised us heavily and made the gap bigger than it is in reality.”

Fernando Alonso 2011 form guide

Felipe Massa

There was not much in the Spanish Grand Prix weekend that Massa will look back on with any fondness. He found his way into a gravel trap during practice and qualified the best part of a second off his flying team mate’s pace.

Massa looked particularly unhappy on the new hard tyres – bringing back memories of last year – and spun on the lap after he put them on during the race.

He had fallen to tenth, 46 second behind Alonso, when he parked up with a gearbox failure eight laps from home. He described it as “a fitting end to a terrible weekend”.

Felipe Massa 2011 form guide

2011 Spanish Grand Prix

Browse all 2011 Spanish Grand Prix articles

Share this with your friends:

70 comments on Ferrari: Alonso stars, Massa struggles

wasiF1 (@wasif1) said on 24th May 2011, 2:50

If you watch the race again after the cars crossed turn 2-3 complex after the start just look at the background of the sea of Spanish fans who were jumping up & down like a spring, that was one of the best F1 start in recent times I have seen.Probably as far as my memory goes this have to be second best to me next to Senna 93 Donnington Park.

Reply Report user
Damon said on 24th May 2011, 9:01

I don’t believe massa is any worse than pre 09 I just feel he is not suited to these tyres, the same for Schumacher. Notice how him and Schumacher are always losing when turning in after a big braking zone. The faster corners affect them less. I just feel they cannot come to grips with the tyres, I think if they were both in the 08 spec Ferrari it would be neck and neck between them

troutcor said on 24th May 2011, 14:35

I understand you all are permanently poisoned against Alonso, but really, are you also blinded? He is driving the wheels off that dog of a car. To put that glorified Yugo in the lead (it required a brilliant start AND quali, you may remember) is just what you all supposedly ask for: less cool calculation and more inspiration. Now obviously y’all love Button, who can only succeed by rolling the dice on some odd strategy gamble, then cruise around like a granny on her way to market until something happens, but really, it was a brilliant bit of fun by Alonso and he ended up no worse off than he would have had he taken the Button-is-Boring strategy. OK, he was a lap down. But can anyone say that Ferrari is worth more than fifth place right now? Massa is wrestling with the Saubers, for crying out loud.

- Dizzy-A (@david-a) said on 25th May 2011, 2:40
  
  Yes, Alonso is doing a great job, but I haven’t seen any posts from people not called “Prisoner Monkeys” bashing Alonso. Further evidenced by how a lot of people have voted Alonso driver of the weekend and for overtake of the race (on the forum).
  
  And Massa has come in for criticism, and on the forum is seen by most as worst driver of the weekend, so you’re a fanboy who is complaining for nothing.
  
  Reply Report user
Gridlock said on 24th May 2011, 22:19

I was thinking something like “Bernd is having a cigarette” would both provide a good code for “the safety car window is open” and keep Marlboro happy.