Fernando Alonso has described Ferrari’s 2013 car, the F138, as its ‘best of the last four years’ following his comeback drive in the Bahrain Grand Prix.
The Spaniard was tipped to take victory in yesterday’s race, but a jammed open DRS flap forced him to make consecutive pit stops on laps eight and nine and saw him drop as low down the order as 19th.
Despite having no DRS for the remainder of the race, Alonso staged a remarkable fightback to finish eighth and attributed this to the F138’s responsive nature.
“It [the car] is definitely our best of the last four years,” said Alonso after the race. “I am sure that without the problems me and Felipe had, we would have finished higher up, because the car responds very well.”
The double world champion also believes the weekend was something of a missed opportunity, given Ferrari’s pace throughout free practice and qualifying.
“We definitely didn’t have much luck today and that’s a real shame, at the end of what had been such a positive weekend for me and Felipe up until this afternoon,” he continued. "We had been competitive in free practice and qualifying and we were both expecting to have a good race.”
Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali echoed Alonso’s feelings, but praised the Spaniard for driving an ‘incredible’ race in difficult circumstances.
“This is definitely not the outcome we expected after showing all weekend long that we were capable of fighting for the top places,” said the Italian. “Despite his problem with the DRS, Fernando produced a blistering drive, pulling off overtaking moves and setting lap times that were absolutely incredible.”
The team also believes that without the issue, a top-three finish and possibly a win for Alonso would not have been impossible given his speed in qualifying and the Ferrari’s pace in the free practice sessions.
“A problem occurred with the DRS on Fernando’s car which forced us to bring forward his first stop to try and fix the rear wing which literally turned upside down,” explained the team’s technical director, Pat Fry.
“The first attempt from the mechanics was not enough to fix it and a second stop further cost valuable time. It’s a real shame because even with a damaged car, his race pace was among the best and it should have been enough to see us finish second or even fight for the win.”
Following a varied start to the season, Ferrari lies third in the constructor’s championship with Alonso its best-placed driver in fourth on 47 points, 30 behind championship leader Sebastian Vettel.
The Spaniard was tipped to take victory in yesterday’s race, but a jammed open DRS flap forced him to make consecutive pit stops on laps eight and nine and saw him drop as low down the order as 19th.
Despite having no DRS for the remainder of the race, Alonso staged a remarkable fightback to finish eighth and attributed this to the F138’s responsive nature.
“It [the car] is definitely our best of the last four years,” said Alonso after the race. “I am sure that without the problems me and Felipe had, we would have finished higher up, because the car responds very well.”
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| Alonso's Ferrari running with the inverted flap. (Photo: WRI2) |
The double world champion also believes the weekend was something of a missed opportunity, given Ferrari’s pace throughout free practice and qualifying.
“We definitely didn’t have much luck today and that’s a real shame, at the end of what had been such a positive weekend for me and Felipe up until this afternoon,” he continued. "We had been competitive in free practice and qualifying and we were both expecting to have a good race.”
Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali echoed Alonso’s feelings, but praised the Spaniard for driving an ‘incredible’ race in difficult circumstances.
“This is definitely not the outcome we expected after showing all weekend long that we were capable of fighting for the top places,” said the Italian. “Despite his problem with the DRS, Fernando produced a blistering drive, pulling off overtaking moves and setting lap times that were absolutely incredible.”
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| Photo: WRi2 |
The team also believes that without the issue, a top-three finish and possibly a win for Alonso would not have been impossible given his speed in qualifying and the Ferrari’s pace in the free practice sessions.
“A problem occurred with the DRS on Fernando’s car which forced us to bring forward his first stop to try and fix the rear wing which literally turned upside down,” explained the team’s technical director, Pat Fry.
“The first attempt from the mechanics was not enough to fix it and a second stop further cost valuable time. It’s a real shame because even with a damaged car, his race pace was among the best and it should have been enough to see us finish second or even fight for the win.”
Following a varied start to the season, Ferrari lies third in the constructor’s championship with Alonso its best-placed driver in fourth on 47 points, 30 behind championship leader Sebastian Vettel.