Scuderia Ferrari F1 Team ©
Yesterday in an interview with ESPN F1, Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso has warned Ferrari could yet lose fourth place in the Constructors’ Championship to McLaren after falling off the pace.
In the last three races, Ferrari have scored just 18 points and bringing their tally to 196, while McLaren have netted 36.
Now with the McLaren team just 49 points behind Ferrari and double points on offer in Abu Dhabi, in his interview with ESPN F1 yesterday, Alonso fears the Scuderia could come under attack. Alonso stated the following:-
‘We were struggling over the weekend but we were also doing that in Russia and a little bit in Japan as well. We just need to keep scoring points because the Constructors’ Championship is still there and we have some fights.
‘We thought we had lost too much with Williams and we will be in the middle of nowhere for the remaining races, but now McLaren seems to pick up the pace so we cannot afford to not score points. We are still in the fight.’
As Alonso says Ferrari appeared to struggle during the course of the weekend to take the fight to Williams. However, they did manage to score some points in order to keep the pressure on them even though Alonso believes that McLaren gaining more points over the past few races could put them at risk of losing fourth in the Constructors.
Reviewing his race at the Circuit of the Americas, which saw Alonso finish sixth while Kimi Raikkonen failed to score, further on in his interview Alonso says P6 was about what he expected. Alonso added the following:-
‘It went more or less as expected, with the cars ahead of us being very quick, clearing off immediately after the start. After a good start, we tried to manage our sixth place. The strategy was the best possible, coming in for the first pit stop at the right moment. For the second one, we tried to go long to fit the Softs and go quicker.
‘I think this season has been very complicated and regardless of the car’s performance in these final races, I want to do my utmost to score points and help my team.’
I would have to agree with Alonso and I believe that sixth was the best result he could have achieved in the race yesterday. Alonso believes that Ferrari used the best strategy that they could in the race which helped them especially in their first pit stops. But all credit to Alonso for a credible performance yesterday and pushing as hard as ever for the best result that he could achieve.
But overall, Alonso sums it up nicely for me. Even though this season has not been what he expected with Ferrari, it is clear that Alonso’s objective for the final two races of the season as to be to keeping scoring points to stay in contention with Williams for third place or keeping McLaren behind them to secure fourth in the Constructors Championship.
And for me, Alonso will give it everything that he can to keep Ferrari fighting with Williams until the last possible moment and also defending McLaren too. And if anyone can do this, it is without a shadow of doubt Alonso.
