forsurescuderiasf1:

Twenty four points in the bag for Scuderia Ferrari at the end of the Japanese Grand Prix, thanks to a second place for Fernando Alonso and a seventh with Felipe Massa. Both Ferrari men made three pit stops, running identical strategies in terms of their use of the Pirelli tyres: Soft in the first three stints of the race, Medium in the final one. After the fifteenth round of the Championship, Fernando is still third in the Drivers’ classification, while Felipe is sixth. The Scuderia remains on the lowest rung of the podium in the Constructors’ points table. 

Stefano Domenicali: “I don’t think it’s out of place if, for the second time running, I use the adjective amazing, this time to describe Fernando Alonso’s race today. Our driver was always on the attack and came very close to a win which would have been incredible, given our performance two weeks ago in Singapore. All these changes of fortune in terms of who is competitive, confirm once again how hard it is to understand as well as possible the real performance of the car-tyre packages at each track. Felipe was also having a very good race, at least until the contact with Hamilton: the damage his car suffered in this incident probably penalised him excessively in the second part of the race. There are still four races to go this season, in which we will do our utmost to achieve the objectives that are still within our reach: winning again, taking Fernando to second in the Drivers’ classification and learning as much as possible from this car with a view to 2012.” 

Fernando Alonso: “Today, we did our best and we came close to winning the race. We know that in qualifying we are behind the Red Bulls and McLarens, but in the race, when there are variables like tyre degradation, then we can exploit some opportunities. Here, the others were very strong for the first five or six laps and then we closed up to them a lot. This podium is a great motivation for the final four races of the season. It was a fun race, in which the strategy was very important. Unlike recent races, today we had a pace that was good enough to fight for the win. We will try again in Korea, where we can go with our heads held high: we will try and win, or at least get on the podium again.” 

Felipe Massa: “Once again I finish a race with a very bitter taste in my mouth. Today, our pace was good enough to finish on the podium, as Fernando demonstrated, but instead I am here commenting on a seventh place. It’s a real shame. The contact with Hamilton? My car was definitely damaged by it: when I looked at it after the race, I saw there was a bit of the front wing endplate missing and the floor was not on properly on the left hand side and I could feel it in the way my car was behaving. I think the footage speaks for itself: he was struggling with his tyres and I had almost come alongside him and for no reason, he moved over and hit me. I let you be the judge… It’s pointless for me to say any more about it.” 

Pat Fry: “A great result today at Suzuka, especially in terms of how competitive we were on track. Fernando came very close to winning, getting the very most out of the equipment at his disposal, trying to attack at every conceivable opportunity. Felipe also drove a good race, but first he might have paid the price for a pit stop that was delayed by a few laps and then there was the contact with Hamilton: in the end he found himself in traffic and we have often seen this year how hard it is to pass a Mercedes, even if we have a better pace. We had a three stop strategy, aware that it would not be an easy one to manage given the rather high level of tyre degradation. The Safety Car period gave everyone a hand and, for once, even the traffic helped us a bit, at least with Fernando. We were not able to make the most of our pace in the final part of each stint with the Soft tyres, because in any case it always costs you a bit pitting early, at least until the point at which you don’t lengthen the final stint of the race too much. Here too, the performance on the Mediums was not that bad, also because we suffered a lot less from our traditional problem of getting the harder compound up to temperature. Now we will try to do the same again next weekend in Korea: it would be nice to get another win before the end of the season, but we know it will be difficult!”

forsurescuderiasf1:

“Fourth and fifth places on the starting grid for the Japanese Grand Prix, for Scuderia Ferrari’s pair of 150º Italias with Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso respectively. That was the outcome of the qualifying session which saw the top five drivers all lap within just over four tenths of one another. The two Ferrari men ran identical programmes during the session: one run on the Medium tyres in Q1, one on the Soft in Q2 and two on the Soft in Q3. 

Stefano Domenicali: “Before moving on to talk about our performance today, I would take this opportunity for a more general observation. Once again today, as has happened before during this season, we have seen cars – no less than four in Q3 – give up on doing a flying lap. Far be it for me to criticise those who made this choice, which is absolutely respectable from a technical point of view, I think it shows something is not right in the way qualifying is run and we should give it some careful thought for the future, because I don’t think it’s such a good thing for the spectators in the grandstand, who, I must say here are amazing in the way they make you feel their passion for Formula 1 and for those who are watching on television. Moving on to our result, I have to say it is more or less what we expected. We know where we stand at the moment technically and we have to try and make the most of every opportunity to fight for a podium finish. We will attempt that with our trademark level of determination.” 

Felipe Massa: “It was a difficult qualifying session but at least we managed to keep one of the four best cars behind us. It’s never easy here to put together the perfect lap and my last run was very good, even if I lost a little bit in the final sector. Tomorrow, it will be important to get a good start. Hamilton alongside me on the grid? It makes no difference to me if it’s him or anyone else. The race looks like being a complicated one, with a lot of stops to change tyres that show significant degradation here, so it follows that strategy will play a key role. It will be vital to find the right pace, so as to be quick, but at the same time, save the tyres. Overtaking will not be easy, despite KERS and DRS: maybe tyre wear will count for more, given that you come onto the main straight off a very slow chicane. Our aim is the podium: we’re starting one place off it, so it’s a realistic expectation.” 

Fernando Alonso: “I am not very surprised by this result: at the end of the day, McLaren and Red Bull have been quicker than us all weekend long and at least we have managed to get ahead of Webber. I seem to have a season ticket for fifth place this year and at least it means I start from the clean side of the track.Tomorrow I expect significant tyre degradation to be a key feature of the race, with the possibility of several pit stops, which means strategy will play a very important role. We hope we won’t have the same problems as in Singapore two weeks ago. We will try and make the best choices and fight for a podium finish, which is a realistic target. The win is certainly less so: as we saw in qualifying, McLaren seem very close to Red Bull here. The start will also be an important moment: both myself and Felipe will try and put pressure on those closest to us and then, if we happen to make up some places we will try and have our say. My first run in Q3? I was pushing to the maximum but, after looking at the lap time analysis, I don’t think I could have done much better than my second run.” 

Pat Fry: “Overall, this is the result we could have expected. We felt that, if we put together the best possible package and squeezed the most out of it, then we could hope to reduce the gap to pole compared to recent races: that’s how things turned out, even if it definitely does not affect the hierarchy down pit lane. Felipe had a great qualifying, especially in Q3, so we really hope that for once, he can have a normal race after all the problems he has encountered recently. Tomorrow’s race will be very tough, especially for the tyres which, historically at this track are given a hard time. It therefore becomes crucial to select the right strategy, pinpointing the best moment to change tyres and, especially, not to make any mistakes. We have a duty to fight right to the very end to achieve the objectives that are still within our grasp this season and we will leave nothing to chance. At the same time, we have to use the remaining days we have on track this season to learn as much as possible about elements that could be useful for next year.”