Abu Dhabi GP: Alonso got 'maximum from the car' on way to seventh
Fernando Alonso believes he extracted every bit of speed possible from his Ferrari as he struggled to seventh on the grid for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
As a tough weekend for the world championship contender and his team continued, Alonso saw his initial provisional fourth place in the Yas Marina starting line-up become seventh as others improved. His Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa is only ninth.
Alonso's title rival Sebastian Vettel, who currently holds a 13-point lead with three rounds remaining in the 2012 Formula 1 title race, starts third.
"I think we were not competitive today, but myself, personally, I'm happy with the performance in qualifying," said Alonso.
"We extracted the maximum from the car.
"I did a 1m41.5s in Q2, a 1m41.5s on my first lap in Q3 and a 1m41.5s on my second lap in Q3. I think I could do the lap 100 times and do a 1m41.5s each time because that was the maximum today.
"Unfortunately there were six people faster than us."
Having progressed from fifth on the grid to second in last weekend's Indian GP, Alonso is optimistic he will gain ground in the Abu Dhabi race as well.
"Normally the pace improves on Sunday so I hope that will be the case," he said.
* Click here to follow the latest news about Ferrari's upgrades and all the other technical developments in AUTOSPORT's new rolling F1 Tech Blog
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Hamilton accepts blame for incident with Albon in F1 Brazilian GP
Ferrari drivers called to F1 stewards over Brazilian GP collision
Will Alonso's Indy failure end the age of versatility?
Alonso: Stroll more sensitive to Aston F1 car handling issues I drive around
Aston Martin ‘not convinced’ Alonso would definitely want to stay in F1
Suzuka sensation redeemed Alonso, but his F1 future is complicated
Lauda's 1976 German GP helmet to be auctioned at F1 Miami GP
Ocon wants set-up changes after China F1 sprint as "performance left on the side"
MotoGP schedule: When is the next MotoGP race and where will it be held?
Honda MotoGP boss "confused" by "good improvements" not working
The short-term pain that hides a very real Williams improvement
How a Shanghai to Sheffield journey paved the way for China’s F1 hero
Why F1 2026 worst case fears could be key to new rules success
How the F1 driver market situation sits for each team with 2025 openings
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments