Alonso: “We were unlucky”

Fernando Alonso is disappointed at the end of qualifying for the Japanese GP. At Suzuka the Ferrari driver did not go beyond the seventh fastest time in qualifying, slowed down at the end of Q3 by the yellow flags displayed due to Kimi Raikkonen's off-piste.

“What can I say except blame bad luck? The yellow flags came at just the wrong time, when I was approaching turn 14" commented Alonso. “Up until that point, my lap was excellent and there was every chance of getting the fourth fastest time of the day which would then translate into a third position on the grid. Starting from there the race could have taken on completely different contours but we have to accept how things went. If we were unlucky today maybe we will be lucky tomorrow! We have very strong opponents, like Red Bull, in front but also behind, like McLaren, so we will have to watch ourselves from both sides of the track. I expect a difficult Sunday: the main objective will be to get to the end - reliability is crucial - and try to bring home a good number of points".

“We changed some things on the car compared to yesterday but after FP3 we went back because we weren't very convinced of those choices. Honestly, I was more optimistic for Sunday than for today, given that our race pace is usually better than the single lap performance: let's hope that's really the case" concluded Alonso.