Alonso not surprised Ferrari were lapped by Mercedes

2014 Spanish Grand Prix

Posted on

| Written by

Fernando Alonso says it was no great surprise for Ferrari to be lapped by Mercedes during the Spanish Grand Prix.

“Well unfortunately it’s not a surprise in a way,” Alonso told reporters after the race.

“You know we were one minute behind the leaders in the first couple of races, with some Safety Cars in the race. So today that we [don’t] have any Safety Car this one minute was one minute and a half.”

Alonso was the last driver on the lead lap but team mate Kimi Raikkonen was lapped by the two Mercedes drivers.

“Unfortunately we’re in a position compared with Australia or Malaysia so we didn’t close that gap, it was our intention so we need to do an extra and we need to close it in the next couple of races,” Alonso added.

“It’s going to be tough, no doubt. We are too far behind – not for Ferrari, for everyone – to compete with Mercedes. But it’s the fifth race of the championship so our work is to make things not that easy for Mercedes.

“When they have a big gap they don’t stress the mechanical side and everything. So we need to do better.”

Alonso said his battle with Raikkonen – who he passed for sixth place during the final stint – “was fun”.

“Obviously we would like to fight for first and second but unfortunately today we were not quick enough,” he continued.

“And at the end, yeah, we had different strategies. I had newer tyres and I was able to pass him but as I said we would like to fight for first and second hopefully soon.”

2014 Spanish Grand Prix

Browse all 2014 Spanish Grand Prix articles

Image © Ferrari/Ercole Colombo

Author information

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...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

38 comments on “Alonso not surprised Ferrari were lapped by Mercedes”

  1. It’s going to be tough, no doubt.

    It’s going to like this all season, no doubt. I’m absolutely sure. I don’t see Ferrari making a magic recovery… in the development race, I’d not bet on them…

  2. And at the end, yeah, we had different strategies. I had newer tyres and I was able to pass him but as I said we would like to fight for first and second hopefully soon.

    Well, you could try to pass, when both of you were on equal terms. It was the only way Ferrari could please their number one driver today, because they can’t do that with a good car.

    1. If Kimi could have changed his strategy to cover Alonso but didn’t. So why blame Ferrari or Alonso.

      1. That’s interesting, for years we’ve been blaming Ferrari each time they get the strategy wrong, but now, suddenly, they’re the drivers’ responsability? That’s quite interesting.

        1. Maybe you’re right, I don’t know either. What I do know is if Ferrari wanted to satisfy their number one driver, they would have got on the radio and told Kimi to move aside early on. Keeping armchair fans happy has never bothered them before.

          At this stage with basically no championship to play for, then there is no reason why Ferrari wouldn’t give their drivers more liberty to make their own calls or split strategies as a gamble to get more points.

          Anyway there was no prior evidence that a 3 stop strategy would have been faster than a 2 stop strategy, otherwise more drivers would have chosen it. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

          1. “they would have got on the radio and told Kimi to move aside early on”

            That has proven to be something very dangerous to do.

            I don’t know if Ferrari were intentoonally favoring Alonso or not, you really aren’t making much sense.

          2. @Albert

            I was referring to the decision to go for 3 stops and not 2. The original poster clearly made a reference to unequal treatment for Kimi.

    2. That’s false. Fernando said in the Spanish broadcast at the end of the race, that he changed the strategy on the fly because he saw it was working for Vettel.
      Also, before the race, Ferrari’s test driver Pedro De La Rosa said both Ferraris were going to use a two-stops strategy because the computers said it was seven seconds faster than a three-stops one.

    3. @osvaldas31

      You know how Rosbergs side of the garage had their own strategy to try beat Hamilton? If you watched the race, you most definitely heard the radio transmissions.

      Well consider for a moment that at Ferrari they also have two sides of the garage. Now consider that maybe, just maybe, those two sides of the garage are running their own races with their own strategies, just like what is happening over at Merc.

      Consider your mind blown.

      1. @joshua-mesh Now consider unwritten rule, that leading driver gets call to the pits first. And consider, that if they were on different strategies, why Raikkonen stopped just one lap later than Alonso on their pit stops, but had to hang on for quite a long time shot tyres later on.

        1. @osvaldas31 you are mistaken. Some teams give the choice to pit first to the leading driver… they dont force them to pit first.

          In Kimi pit second, its because he decided to pit second.

          1. @joshua-mesh Did you hear Kimi’s radio message to the team after the race – “who made these calls”?

            So your argument that Kimi decided that is unfounded.

          2. Then blame KIMI’s strategy team! Dont blame Alonso’s strategy team! There are two teams, one per driver. Kimi needs to hire better people!

        2. Hey Osvaldas, get a clue. You think anyone forced Kimi to sign for Ferrari? You think he’s being wronged while being paid exorbitant amounts of money? You blame Alonso or the team for this? Kimi never listens to anyone, supposedly. He can just tell them he’s coming in if he wants to. He didn’t. You talk of him like he’s a baby. He chose to return to a team, he could dictate terms. If your theory of 1st driver is even correct, which you can’t even prove, so what? Alonso is beating him by how many points this year?

          Your one of those fans that has to whine, but Kimi doesn’t give a damn about you, that is simple fact. He’s an adult, they are all adults, they all know each other, he signed a contract, and he has free will. You whining about it now doesn’t change that simple fact. If you want to blame anyone, blame Kimi.

    4. +1

      Ferrari doesn’t deserve to have a driver of Kimi’s calibre in their team. I really hope Kimi could end his career somewhere else.

      1. Ferrari wouldn’t deserve a driver of Maldonado’s calibre at the moment.

  3. I don’t know what Ferrari was thinking with Raikkonen’s strategy, he was only fighting against his teammate and leading with 1,5s before Alonsos pitstop and this plan cost him 1-2 places. I don’t really trust Spagnolo.

  4. zoom (@zoomracing)
    11th May 2014, 17:03

    Kimi was dead slow with the hard tyre, Alonso with older tyres was way faster than him with new tyres, the better driver won today.

    1. On older tyres? I think he was on newer tyres, no?

      1. Definitely. Kimi was on a two stop strategy.

  5. We indeed saw to a (almost complete) fully extend how far behind Ferrari was.

  6. Did I hear about testing in spain? do we know which drivers are taking part.

  7. Good race by Fernando and Kimi, that is the limit of the car, just awful.

    But the way that they favour Fernando with the strategy it really surprised me.

    I guess Santander has a lot of power inside the team.

    1. yeah kimi literally just walked out of the sky the interview when he was asked about the strategy..

  8. Wont it be real fun if Alo and Ros swapped teams next year……. That would be something!

    1. So each team would have a driver pair of more or less the same level. Actually, that would be brilliant, terrible for Ferrari, but brilliant.

  9. Looks like Santander plans RAI’s and ALO’s tire strategies. That’s the only explanation I can come up with.
    What a disgusting race.

    1. Yes, the banking group Santander are in charge of deciding the pit strategies of the Ferrari Formula One team.

      Makes perfect sense.

    2. Cry more please

  10. In all fairness, considering Alonso’s and Raikkonen’s performances so far this year, you can’t really blame Ferrari for giving Alonso a better strategy. Looking at past races, he had a better chance to challenge for higher positions.

    1. Hindsight is perfect 20/20

      1. Spectacularly missed the point, well done.

    2. Again there was no evidence that a 3 stopper was a better strategy or every other driver wouldn’t have two stopped. Alonso/Ferrari gambled and made it work.

  11. I don’t have a problem with the different strategies, Just that the timing of Kimi’s stops could have been better. Ferrari are fortunate they have the two best drivers on the grid to cover up for a car that barely deserves to finish in the points.

    1. rotfl. Kimi? HAHA

  12. Shame on ferrari…

  13. Shame on Mercedes for making sure Hamilton won again. I like Rosberg. I guess Blackberry must be making their pit stop calls for them.

  14. It looks like a good 5 years of Alonso’s career got wasted in Ferrari …..

    They just seem to be on a race to the bottom since 2009

Comments are closed.