Facing the media for his usual Thursday meeting, Fernando Alonso was very clear on what he and the Scuderia has to do this weekend.
“We were hoping for some consistent results, but in Monaco we did not pick up so many points, so now we need four or five races on the podium or at least very near the podium in order to recover some of the points we have lost,” was his assessment of the challenges that lie ahead in the short term for Ferrari. “All the races are different and unique and this weekend will be a tricky one with the weather conditions. Anything can happen especially in the wet and we saw in qualifying in Monaco, that when the rain came it was chaotic: it means that if you are not on track at the end if the track is drying, or if you have a problem with a yellow flag or you make a small mistake, then you are out. So it will be a case of maximum concentration to do well here and also in the coming races, at Silverstone, Germany and Hungary. So every Thursday it will be a case of saying the same thing, ‘we must score good points.’”
Although he clearly has so much natural talent and ability to count on, the Ferrari man still sees luck as playing a part in the championship. “We have had some unlucky situations this year, like when I had a slight touch in Malaysia which put me out of the race, while we have seen for example Hamilton and Vettel touching in Barcelona and they were both able to continue,” he said. “However, in Monaco it was simply a case of not having the pace. At this stage of the season, we have two more points than last year when we were leading the championship, so in a way we are doing a little bit better than last year. What is not so normal is the amount of points Sebastian (Vettel) has scored in the last six races - a lot! We need to try and finish in front of him, because everyone has bad luck at some point and it will come to him as well. Kimi had his bad luck in Monaco with the accident, so that we are now only five points behind him.”
Every once in a while, Fernando is asked to assess his team-mate and today was one of those occasions: “Felipe is a very talented driver; you don’t get to drive for Ferrari for eight seasons if you don’t have the talent to do it,” began the Spaniard. “Then, there’s the commitment and the hard work with the team, as it’s not just a case of driving on Sundays, as Felipe works hard all year with the engineers in the factory. This year, he has returned to a very competitive level and is really strong and we both work together for the team and the fight for the two championships.”
As for the complicated Canadian track, it has not always delivered for the Ferrari man. “It’s true we’ve never had really great results here,” commented Fernando. “Some of the inconsistency was down to strange circumstances, but it’s a circuit that’s a little bit tricky to understand, as it changes all through the weekend: not just the surface but also the wind can change a lot which affects your braking points, plus there is no room for mistakes, just like at a street circuit with the walls so close, but hopefully this year we can do a bit better.”