Alonso pins hopes on Ferrari's gentle tyre use in Singapore

The Spaniard, who was two tenths off Vettel, admitted that Red Bull looks strong based on today's running, but with tyre degradation expected to be high around the street track, he believes that this could prove to be Ferrari's trump card.

This is despite still hoping that Ferrari could improve its single lap pace tomorrow by enough to challenge Vettel.

"Our long run pace was okay," said the Spaniard. "Normally here we face high tyre degradation, which is good for us because our car seems to take care of the tyres better than some others. If there is tyre degradation, maybe we have an opportunity.

"Last year, on Friday we had a few problems and then in qualifying we were up there. I hope tomorrow it's similar and we are fighting for the best positions.

"But we are realistic and today we saw a very strong Red Bull, so it's not going to be easy. But let's hope that things change for the better."

Despite the laptime disadvantage compared to Red Bull, Alonso was happy with the balance of his Ferrari.

But he warned that the picture could change tomorrow after today's running was blighted by kerb problems that reduced running time and red flags. This, along with the difficulty of getting a perfect lap when on fresh rubber, means that the competitive order could be different on Saturday.

"We are more or less happy with the car," said Alonso. "But here it is difficult to exploit the potential of the car when you have only one or two laps from the tyres at maximum performance.

"There is always the traffic, on in this occasion there was also the red and yellow flags. So I think that the times maybe are a little mixed up.

"I'm sure that there are some quick guys who didn't perform because of these factors and there are some other guys that are maybe up in the front but will struggle a bit more tomorrow."