Alonso: Red Bull are quicker but our team is better

2012 Korean Grand Prix

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Fernando Alonso remains positive about his championship chances despite lining up behind closest rival Sebastian Vettel on the Korean Grand Prix grid.

“Our aim tomorrow? It’s very simple: to finish ahead of Vettel,” he said. “From now on, how many points one has overall will not count for much, it will be scoring one more than my closest rival that matters.

“It could happen that I lose the lead in the championship and maybe arrive at the last race 24 points down, but what matters is to be first in the classification at the end of the Brazilian Grand Prix.

“What edge does the Red Bull have? A quicker car, but we have the better team.”

Alonso says Ferrari are more competitive in Korea than they were at Suzuka last week:

“I’d say we’ve made a step forward compared to Japan, just a week ago, both in terms of grid position and also the gap to the front. You can see that our car is better suited to this track, given that it is basically the same one we raced in Japan.

“We must improve it and I expect to see some updates coming, right from the next race in India.”

Alonso admitted he’s concerned about starting on the dirty side of the grid, but expects his car to be strong in the race:

“I think tomorrow we can have a good race: maybe I might lose a few places immediately after the start, as I’m on the dirty side of the track, but we have shown we have a good pace over a long run and so we should be able to stay with the lead group.”

2012 Korean Grand Prix

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    Keith Collantine
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    45 comments on “Alonso: Red Bull are quicker but our team is better”

    1. Clearly Red Bull is faster than them in the qualifying, but they might be faster in the race. We will see. Anyway, Alonso really likes to cheer team work.

      1. @eggry But what kind of team work is he talking about?

        It’s not as if Ferrari are much quicker in the pits, in fact they’re very evenly matched on that count.

        And it’s certainly not that Ferrari have done a better job developing their car.

        I wonder if he’s referring to the kind of ‘team work’ that Massa has proved willing to do which Webber shows a reluctance for? Particularly as the latter may well be a factor tomorrow.

        Any other suggestions?

        1. I think there’s no advantage for Alonso in terms of team work, just praising spiritual effort. Well, except another driver would let him pass easily. I just think he wants to rally crew and engineers. Sometimes this kind of attitude is a sign of losing ground but I hope that’s not the case.

        2. That’s what puzzled me by his comments. I wouldn’t exactly say RB are too shabby operationally…

          Ferrari have certainly done well, strategically speaking, this year. Far better than last year. But if anything, they were just getting on terms with the standard Redbull had already set.

          Would he really refer to the ‘help’ Massa could give him? I’m not sure…

          I think it’s just fighting talk and only that. If you really look at what he says, I don’t think he’s all that confident that 2012 will be his year…
          Sounds pretty resigned to losing the lead for example…

        3. The fact that Ferrari is still leading the drivers championship despite not having a better car more often than not, shows that they work better as a team. It is strategically, reliability, or even team orders as in Monza.

          1. I would be inclined to believe that is more down to a single man inded strategy, incredible driving from one driver and good reliability.

          2. @caci99

            reliability

            This I agree with – Alonso has certainly been better off in terms of reliability than Vettel.

        4. They turned an undrivable car into a winning car & they are still leading the driver’s championship

          1. let’s put the rabbit from the hat

            massa is a test driver for alonso soo all the testing dvolpmant going to massa in p1,2,
            in p3 what work good in massa test thay put in alonso and massa keep all the ****

            becuse of that massa will be in 2013 agein test driver for alonso

            1. Thank you for pointing that out. I haven’t realized that all this season Massa has been the fastest during practice. Funny really!

            2. in p3 what work good in massa test thay put in alonso and massa keep all the ****

              grate stuff so why they start now remove the **** from mass’s car now ????
              it seems that they remember now that they are also participating in the constructor’s championship
              lol!!!

          2. Ferrari F2012 wasn’t “undrivable” at any point of the season.

            1. yes i agree it was a “dog” of a car in the first 4 races

        5. May be, just may be, the “team work” term he used doesn’t have a hidden meaning. May be, he just means that he believes that Ferrari will do no mistake tomorrow, with strategy or pit stops, give the race their very best and hope for the best.

          Not everything a driver says has to be about pit stop times, car pace or team orders.

        6. Alonso is just being psychological and positive minded. Ferrari in a way have been the best team in that they have the 3rd fastest car and are leading the championship, maybe it is positive mentality that got alonso where he is, and might win him the championship.

        7. Perhaps, strategy and speedy recovery and strategy turnaround based on new data (eg if a set of tyres that just came off a car had bad/good wear they might just switch strategies?

        8. Sad attempt to spin Alonso’s word into team orders.

    2. As ridiculous and delusional as this may sound – Aren’t the team responsible for making a quick car?

      1. Well maybe it’s sarcasm…

      2. lol. I think at least Ferrari maked the most of a bad situation. Thats the only silver lining I could find

    3. End of lap one Webber, Hamilton,Vettel and Alonso…what a race we would have then !! Fingers crossed.

    4. 5 Races to go, and I have to say I wouldn’t have believed that Mc Laren would be seemingly out of contention in both championships after their 3 first races. This championship really is about the teams.

    5. Hopefully he makes it past the first corner :S

    6. What he meant to say is “I am better!” and I think he is.

      1. @alex-bkk I think you may be right. He certainly can’t mean RBR are a worse team when it comes to executing a race as they very rarely make mistakes.

        To be fair though, if there’s anyone you can rely on to make the most of not starting on pole, it’s Alonso.

    7. I think so. Ferrari has been perfect with strategy with Alonso this year (except Canada). When Alonso pits he is sure that he is not going to lose anything, he will probably gain a place or some valuable tenths. It’s true that Ferrari isn’t the best team with pit stops, but they are consistent.

      And then Alonso has a full team behind him. Even his team mate. So it’s much easier for him than for Vettel or Hamilton.

      I think Alonso meant all that with “our team is better”.

      1. Yeah I agree, but I think he knows how to beat the fastest car on the grid. Seb isn’t going to come from behind and win any race even with the fastest car on track… For Alonso and Ferrari it’s just another day at work. They know how to win from behind.

        1. @alex-bkk

          Seb isn’t going to come from behind and win any race

          Is that perhaps because every time he has a car capable of winning he qualifies well? Don’t try and say he can’t race, if my mind serves me correctly (which it does) Vettel came from 12th on the grid to the podium in Belgium, and bet a clearly faster McLaren in Australia.

          1. That a fairly moot point without some comparative stats with Alonso. (I’m gonna crunch those numbers) I’m not saying Seb isn’t quick or doesn’t know know to race, I’m saying when it comes to winning from behind, my money is on Fred. Your’s should be as well ;)

          2. Vettel came from 12th on the grid to the podium in Belgium

            yes with five cars out of the first corner

            1. No he was 12th after five cars were out at the first corner

              Or was it three.

            2. And he beat Kimi, who started 3rd.

            3. @tifoso1989 – and still in 12th place. The guy can race.

          3. Indeed. This is Vettel’s sixth season in Formula1 and he has third most pole positions of all times. Still some people keep criticizing him for ‘being able to win only from pole’. Does it really matter, if he’s constantly starting from the pole?

    8. For everyone who can’t understand a difference between teamwork and fast car, just look at McLaren. You could say they had the fastest car in more races then any other team this year so far, but I don’t think anyone thinks they were the best as a team. In fact everyone keeps criticizing them as a team.

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