Fernando Alonso said the yellow flags for Kimi Raikkonen’s spin affected him badly during qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix.
“I think we were very, very unlucky today with the yellow flags,” he said. “The car in front was not yellow-flagged, the car behind was already green, so we just were the car to catch the yellow flag.
“So maybe I think we lost position four, with Jenson Button’s penalty maybe it was position three to start tomorrow in the race maybe different.”
“Nothing we can do. Unlucky today, hopefully very lucky tomorrow.”
Alonso added Ferrari are still off the pace: “I think we struggle again, another weekend with poor performance in a single lap. We are one second off the pace from pole position.
“As I said, it’s not new. I think we were eight-tenths more or less average all year. And we’re still leading the championship, something that is difficult to explain but hopefully we keep doing like this.”
2012 Japanese Grand Prix
Image © Ferrari spa/Ercole Colombo
Eggry (@eggry)
6th October 2012, 8:20
Considering the gap between him and frontrunner gets widen again, He needs miracle for the title…or penalty or failure from rivals.
Kingshark (@kingshark)
6th October 2012, 8:26
No worries. Ferrari don’t need to develop the car no more. Fernando is always on duty.
This was sarcasm for anyone who didn’t get it. It seems that Ferrari solely are relying on Alonso and others misfortunes. However, a driver can only do so much. They’ve turned a dog of a car into a race-winner, so why can’t they keep developing that car? And the wind tunnel excuse is rather poor and out-dated.
Aditya Banerjee (@chicanef1)
6th October 2012, 8:32
+1. Another season or two like this and Alonso might end up leaving Ferrari altogether.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
6th October 2012, 11:52
@chicancef1 I see where you’re coming from, but I can’t see anywhere for him to go.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
6th October 2012, 11:52
@chicanef1
Aditya Banerjee (@chicanef1)
6th October 2012, 18:32
Put Alonso in this year’s McLaren or Red Bull, and by now he would have been at lest fifty points ahead. McLaren is not a choice. You get me?
Atticus (@atticus-2)
6th October 2012, 9:30
Yep. Alonso not motivated Ferrari, like Schumacher did, he did the opposite: had them on something of a stowaway attitude. ‘Bah, we lead by 40/37/39?/29 points, Fernando will do it, he gives 190%, I rather go home, watch TV, and not stay in the factory to test if this or that could actually yield or not.’
Atticus (@atticus-2)
6th October 2012, 9:33
Actually, a lot of his opponents hit trouble once again. Button demoted, Raikkonen spun, Hamilton screwed up his setup for a high-speed corner-track once again… Webber stayed, but my hunch was always that he simply cannot do it.
Only Vettel, his closest opponent is trouble-free. Unfortunately, he rules the weekend so far.
But if something happens to Vettel, Alonso is in contention again to perform the best out of the championship leading bunch.
Kingshark (@kingshark)
6th October 2012, 8:29
I’ve noticed that Hamilton and Vettel have one major misfortune which costs them a great deal of points, such as what happened in both Valencia and Singapore; while Alonso has his bad luck delivered in small chunks. Suicidal strategy in Canada, punted off in Belgium, anti-roll bar failure in Monza, and now this…
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
6th October 2012, 8:40
It may get more interesting – Vettel is under investigation for blocking him.
Todfod (@todfod)
6th October 2012, 10:29
@kingshark I agree. A lot of fans keep saying that Fernando has been lucky to be leading the WDC race, but I think drivers in faster cars such as Button and Webber have been luckier so far and still have nothing to show for it.