Alonso: “Sepang suits us better”

Fernando, after a difficult weekend for the team, you are still happy to have collected four points…
Indeed, after a mixed weekend, we are satisfied with the result achieved in Melbourne. I lost quite a few places at the start of the race because I had to avoid the accident in the first corner. I then found myself at the back of the pack and had to fight to get back up. As is often the case, the first race of the season was eventful, but we managed to take some advantage of the incidents and move up to 5th place. Despite the points scored, we need to improve the performance of the car.

What areas will you focus on for Malaysia?
We struggled in the qualifying session in Australia and we suffered from it in the race. We will therefore have to improve this area in order to hope to compete in a good race. We need to make the best use of the Srec, especially at the start of the race, on the long straight before the first corner. We also need to learn how to use tires better. This will be very important for Malaysia, where temperatures are still very high.

What are your expectations for this Malaysian Grand Prix?
Sepang is definitely different from Melbourne and I think it's a circuit that will suit us better. It's probably on the list of my favorite tours. I've won there twice and I'm always happy to go there. The circuit has many fast turns where it is really possible to highlight the performance of a F1. We saw in Melbourne that all the teams are quite close together, so we will have to fight to finish in the points.