Alonso and Raikkonen concerned over Ferrari pace

2014 Australian Grand Prix

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Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen say Ferrari must raise their game after a disappointing start to the season in Australia.

Alonso took a fifth place finish, three places ahead of Raikkonen, but was more concerned about the gap to winner Nico Rosberg.

“Both Ferraris crossed the line which is a good effort by the team and a good achievement,” Alonso said after the race. “On the other hand we finished 35 seconds behind Nico Rosberg.”

“This is probably too much and we need to do better in Malaysia.”

Ferrari said they had electrical problems with their cars during the race. “We had some issues but I don’t know,” Rakkonen told reporters. “There was a lot of things happening and until we look into those things I don’t really know what is what.”

“We cannot be happy with the positions that we finished,” Raikkonen added, saying it had been a “very difficult week”.

“We got hit in the first corner by somebody from behind, then the car was running well, and then we lost one place in the pit stop because we have to double pit stop. And then grained the front tyre and lost one place because of a mistake.

“The car felt pretty OK at some points but then sometimes was a little bit tricky,” he added.

“The only positive thing is wee run the whole race and scored some points, but let’s see.”

2014 Australian Grand Prix

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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49 comments on “Alonso and Raikkonen concerned over Ferrari pace”

  1. If they were having electrical issues then all they need to do for Malaysia to reclaim some of the deficit is resolve those, so they can run reliably.

    Although I don’t think the main issue is with the car, it is with Räikkönen. He looks incredibly unsettled.

    1. he was right behind Alonso before SC and lost two position because of double pit stop.

      Losing further ground to fernando again when his tire was gone and not allowed to pit because fernando hadn’t came in leaving him locking up the front everywhere for few laps.

      Funny how he was able to pit earlier last season when massa was in front. Maybe kimi has to toughened up abit in forcing pit stop.

      1. Absolutely..Kimi was on course to a 6th place finish,but for the double pit stop..11th to 6th would have been good in the F14T..

        1. Some people Believe what the See, most however See what they Believe.

          I suppose you did miss the bad start RAI had, and the multiple occasions when he lost time and positions after out-braking himself and almost leaving the track?!

          PS. Given historical results (review past seasons), ALO beats RAI comfortably. So probability is very high RAI will, consistently, lag behind the great Spaniard. Learn to live with it!

          1. I suppose you did miss the bad start RAI had, and the multiple occasions when he lost time and positions after out-braking himself and almost leaving the track?!

            Thank you for proving yourself that you hadn’t watch the race at all.

            Kimi had storming start from 11 to 8. He constantly lock up because his front tire wear out and couldn’t pit because he had to wait Alonso to pit first.

            tq

          2. Bad start? Raikkonen vaulted up to 8th at the start…

          3. I suppose you did miss the bad start RAI had,

            LOL!! Which race were yo watching??

          4. pastaman (@)
            17th March 2014, 2:50

            Some people Believe what the See, most however See what they Believe.

            Which you just proved with your own silly comment…

      2. Are you completely sure it was not ALO who was responsible, in some way, for RAI to crash on the IN LAP during Q2 as well? Come on, I am sure you can come up with something to make you feel better about his bad performance.

    2. Kimi just doesn’t seem like the same driver that won in Australia last year.

      1. Off course, he got paid, period.

    3. @vettel1 At times Raikkonen looked very composed, I’m sure he’ll be improving soon especially because after watching this race I’m convinced that the Ferrari is actually a very good car, up to standards with the Red Bull but surprisingly the power unit is even slower than the Renault though the Ferrari powered cars saw the flag.

    4. @vettel1 2 crashes in a couple of weeks and 3 errors during the race, that’s a lot indeed. He seems to be badly struggling, I hope it’s just a false start.
      However I am concerned about Ferrari’s cars. I have no doubt their pilots are exceptional, and given how Alonso just couldn’t pass the Hulk (already seen that but still) and catch the front, I hope it’s not going to be a Merc-only year and another year to forget for the team (God, 35 seconds).

  2. we lost one place in the pit stop because we have to double pit stop

    err, you lost two.

    1 to button

    1 to vergne

    And when your front tire gone, ferrari was waiting to pit alonso first only then they pit you.

    Funny, when alonso was behind massa last season, team pitted fernando to undercut massa in front.

    Be more tough Kimi, pit when you feel its necessary.

    1. The safety car pit stop “delay” for Kimi was just one of those things. It was just the way the car positions panned out and the timing. But the delay on the second pit stop cost both Kimi and Alonso some time. Ferrari are always so hit and miss with their strategy.

    2. MAS has never been ahead of ALO. Do not look at a certain moment in a random race – that is completely irrelevant in the long run . Take a look at the FINAL STANDINGS, of whatever season – See where ALO was and compare to either MAS or even RAI positions…if you dare.

      1. please just watch the race or keep yourself to wikipedia looking at non related statistics.

  3. At least Ferrari have built a pretty solid car.. Ugly, overweight, and not quite as quick as the Mercedes.. but it can take a rear end shunt from Kobayashi and go race distance! ;)

    1. by how much is it overweight? it sure is ugly.

  4. I think we will recover just fine, he’s a class act. They probably have a power deficit which is harder to recover due to engine freeze. Let’s c

  5. “The only positive thing is wee ran ….

    I was thinking to myself: where’s that sentence going? :P

    1. @andea23 Ferrari are taking this fuel-efficiency thing too far… ;)

  6. Really poor stuff. Mercedes look great whereas Red-Bull, McLaren and Williams also look strong. I think this will be the year where heads will roll at Ferrari.

  7. Typical Ferrari. Never disappointing.

  8. Different season, same old story, the Scuderia need to sort this out. They have a massive budget, great facilities, great engineers, great drivers, but the results just aren’t coming, I get the sense that Domenicalli may go the way of Whitmarsh if this is another title-less season for them.

  9. I think all in all Ferrari had a good day but they really need to get on top of those small issues and get on with it.

    I was actually surprised to see how close Alonso was to Button, I had lost sight of Fernando at one point and thought he was roughly 10-15 seconds behind Button but he when he finished he could still see the back of the McLarens.

    However Ferrari really needs to do better next time out. fifth and eight is probably better than most Tifosi expected but it is not where they should be, they should be op front waiting for the Mercedes cars to not finish ;-)

  10. watching that ferrari in the race reminded me of the F60 2009 Truck…too bad…could see kimi struggling…his car just seemed unpredictable at places..

  11. The electrical problems that Ferrari faced were due to the integration between MGU-H and the Turbo, software problem (new excuse this !!!!) should be resolved but the question is when, BTW Luca talked about it before the start of the season at Geneva showroom

  12. Ferrari is now an average team. They’ve made NO progress since 2009, despite their big budget.

    1. @ultimateuzair 2009, bad year but not only for them, 2010 in the run for WDC, 2011 bad year, 2012 and 2013 in the run for WDC. Pretty average isn’t it?

      1. Too bad that Italian team only good with German driver and Japanese tires..ops.

        1. I didn’t know Raikkonen and Massa were German

          1. And Alo who?

      2. To say there were in the run in 2013 is pushing it.

      3. The only reason why Ferrari were in the running for titles were because of their drivers. Fernando Alonso particularly. I bet even Force India would beat Ferrari if Ferrari had some sort of driver like Pastor Maldonado.

  13. The problem for Ferrari is that they had a rival in the last couple of years which was 0.5 to 1 sec faster per lap in general as they grappled with co-relation issues with the wind tunnel. With the rules having changed radically and Ferrari’s co-relation issues solved they have been expecting big things from this season. At least after the first race, they have found another rival in silver colors to be a 0.5 to 1 sec faster.

    I’ve particularly found Kimi to not yet have settled with the car. He looks hungrier than before (partly due to Alonso) but all through the tests and the Aus GP weekend, he really isn’t in harmony with the car.

    Let’s hope they get over it soon as other rivals are coming thick and fast and the weight of expectations is a lot. Also I feel that together with Kimi, Fernando’s opinion would have more weightage on the team than Felipe and Fernando together.

  14. Have no ideea what’s going on for sure, but something’s wrong. Raikkonen seems to have some problems driving this car, never seen him doing proper laps with this car, be it testing or race weekend. It feels like a struggle for him indeed driving this car. They should do something about it quickly, otherwise Massa’s replacement and the big money spent with Kimi’s salary won’t be truly justified at the end of the season. But Alonso’s performaces in Quali and Race kinda bugs me because, Mercedes’ drivers aside, he set the fastest time over the GP weekend -> FP2. Seeing him fighting around P5 is not what I was thinking it’ll happen. I was pretty sure he’ll be right behind (maybe threaten) the Mercs, because all the time ’til Quali he seemed fast enough to do that.

    All in all, I think Ferrari should search for some new, young talented drivers, ’cause if things don’t improve, I won’t wonder if both drivers will leave the team before their contract expires.

  15. Simple. Kimi made some mistakes in races that forced to be overtaken by Bottas and his prime stint was so slow compared to Alonso’s one. Fastest laps Kimi 1:33.691 (56) Alonso 1:32.616 (56) and Both had no traffic (Hulk and Kimi = 7sec) (But and Alonso = 12 sec)

    1. Good Observation. Not entirely sure, but I thought Kimi had DRS issues. I saw him behind Vergne a couple times and still he had no DRS open. He should cut down on the errors though.

      Bogged down by Hulk, there was nothing Alonso could do. Once clear, he was pretty consistent and fast. Still have hopes for this season. Malaysia and a dry weekend should clear a few doubts.

  16. Steph (@stephanief1990)
    16th March 2014, 11:55

    Kimi has been absolutely awful since his return. The car does look like a handful though, it’s just not quick enough and unstable under braking. To be fair to Ferrari they’ll probably end up quite competitive with Williams, Red Bull and McLaren but the problem is there’s always one team that seems to dominate and Ferrari are never that team.

    1. @stephanief1990

      Are you stating that Raikkonen has been awful since he returned to F1? Because that’s a bit ridiculous, considering what he did in 2012-2013 with the Lotus, even without being paid.

      His race today was every bit as good as Alonso’s, he would have finished 6th if it wasn’t for the double-pit, so what you’re saying is a bit illogical.

      1. Raikkonen is struggling since the very start of the season, it’s hard not to see it.

        1. Correct, but as only one race has been driven, not very informative.

  17. I think this is the limit of the tech team, based on the last two years, Ferrari couldn’t build a fast car, and the blame was on the wind tunnel. This year car should have been an aggressive design, the team said they will be more aggressive with there approach, and look at the result. A 1 – 1.7 sec slower cars for the last couple of years, this year is the same. Am a Ferrari fan and I feel bad for them

  18. Jesus christ, this was only the first race in a season with all-new cars. This is new for everyone (just ask Adrian Newey). Why do some of you people not wait until halfway through the season before writing Ferrari off and comparing them to 2009?

  19. I wish they would update that nose already. It’s hard to pity them with a front end like that.

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