Alonso: Not so bad qualifying

Fernando Alonso expected, like the rest of the paddock, to experience particularly competitive qualifying on the 4,381km Hungaroring course where the gaps are generally very close. There Team was in difficulty from Q2 but nevertheless managed to integrate its two drivers into the top ten, the Championship leader starting in sixth position ahead of his teammate Felipe Massa. The double world champion knows that his progression in the hierarchy will be complicated on this circuit where overtaking is perilous, but the rain could possibly do the business of the Ferrari driver who has the satisfaction of seeing his direct rival Mark Webber (Red Bull) only starting from eleventh place.

“We expected tough qualifying and it was.”, recognizes the Spaniard who won his first victory in F1 with Renault in 2003. “We had at least eight cars, McLaren, the Force India, the Red Bull and the Lotus, who were very competitive and getting to Q3 was already difficult. We succeeded and we slightly improved the behavior of the car in the last session by working on the tire pressure and the front wing. I was far from doing a perfect lap, I lost a handful of tenths in a few turns. The wind was stronger than this morning and I think that surprised everyone. All things considered, sixth place is far from shameful. It's hard to overtake here but the rain could redistribute the cards tomorrow. In addition, we are in the unknown with the tires because we were not able to really test them on long runs yesterday. We are not capable of fighting for the front positions in the dry but I can hope to finish around fourth or fifth place. My main objective will be to finish ahead of my direct rival in the Championship and I am starting ahead of him. »