Fernando Alonso says his priority is beating his closest championship rivals as he doubts his victory chances in the Monaco Grand Prix.
The Ferrari driver starts tomorrow’s race from sixth on the grid and said “I think it’s going to be difficult,” to win.
“Obviously it’s not the best qualifying position if you want to fight for the race,” said Alonso. “Nothing is impossible in Formula One but it’s going to be very unlikely that we fight for the victory tomorrow.”
Alonso goes into the race third in the points standings behind Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen, and he says his priority tomorrow is now to beat them:
“Second main target is to finish ahead of our main competitors in the championship so Kimi and Sebastian in this moment. On this maybe is possible, why not?”
“We start in the same row as Kimi, Sebastian is just one row in front of us. With s good start and a good strategy, we can do it.”
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Image © Ferrari/Ercole Colombo
Mike (@mike)
25th May 2013, 15:17
One of the biggest problems for him is going to be the short and narrow run to turn one. His starts have been typically outstanding, and I’m quite sure the Red Bull’s will be more than happy to box him in.
fangio85 (@fangio85)
25th May 2013, 15:20
Massa for the win
OmarR-Pepper (@)
25th May 2013, 15:23
that would be epic, almost a dream (he can start in softs, wait for the almost inevitable crash and safety car on the first lap, change to hard tyres, join the back of the grid again and try to endure with that very tyre set till the end, assuming nobody else copies the move).
fangio85 (@fangio85)
25th May 2013, 15:29
+1 that would make my day Haha
OmarR-Pepper (@)
25th May 2013, 16:27
@fangio85 or he does exactly that … until we find out Massa is first with Alonso second and Stefano radioes: Felipe Baby, keep tyres, Alonso has fresher tyres, did you get the message?
Chema Carrasco (@chemakal)
25th May 2013, 21:59
Boring…
OmarR-Pepper (@)
25th May 2013, 15:20
Of course that is the priority. He may be wishing Hamilton blocks and slows down the row behind him, to repeat the move he made in Barcelona, when a slow Hamilton blcoked Raikkonen and that allowed his smart move.
This time, however, there are:
PROS: Webber’s blood in the eye can make him clash (and crash) with Vettel, that would make Alonso go ahead in the points.
CONS: Monaco is narrow, and a heroic move can end up in the barriers
uan (@uan)
25th May 2013, 19:21
“Webber’s blood in the eye can make him clash (and crash) with Vettel”
why in the world would Webber want to ruin his own race and a chance at winning Monaco to do something like that? Not to mention doing that would make him a 100x worse than Vettel (and put him in the league of Tanya Harding).
I just can’t fathom why people would even suggest things like that are going on in Webber’s head. Amazing.
Chema Carrasco (@chemakal)
25th May 2013, 21:52
I agree, though. It doesnt mean he will crash intentionally. But if for once he makes a decent start he’ll go for it in the first curve and ALO might benefit. What probably will happen is a typical start from Webber blocking ALO
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
25th May 2013, 15:24
Well, both he and Vettel (abeilt with fresh tyres having not q’ed) got positions back with a clever strategy last year, no reason why he can’t do it again tomorrow…
anon
25th May 2013, 15:31
Alonso easily the best car in race trim and the second best in qualifying after Mercedes.
Now or never for Fred!! Fail this year with the clear best machinery and I think they’ll do what they did to Kimi in 08 when he couldn’t get the better of Massa!!
Tifoso1989 (@tifoso1989)
25th May 2013, 16:01
What a delusional
Estesark (@estesark)
25th May 2013, 16:12
Give him another year, you mean?
Even if Alonso doesn’t win the title this year, he’s clearly going to finish ahead of Massa in the championship, so the situation isn’t really comparable.
Stijn (@stijnzer)
25th May 2013, 16:21
Speculation:
If Alonso doesn’t win this year they might replace Massa with a more competitive driver to secure the future. While if Alonso wins this year they might keep Massa since it’s a winning formula.
?
OmarR-Pepper (@)
25th May 2013, 16:33
@stijnzer nice one, but I doubt they can hire a real threat, another rookie who can challenge the “old” wolf in the pack, as Hamilton did in 2007.
That’s why I think we will NEVER see a Vettel – Alonso lineup, or a so-promising rookie alonside Alonso. Fer wouldn’t bear it… again
If they have a promising rookie, though, Ferrari should consider to give him a try in a “related” team, maybe Sauber, to make him gain experience
karter22 (@karter22)
25th May 2013, 15:36
Seems like the sensible thing to do… Although if he can pull another MONACO 2010 performance, he could pull off a podium finish. I hope he has a clean start.
Joshua Mesh (@joshua-mesh)
25th May 2013, 16:28
Any word on the penalty for Button for blocking Alonso on his (second) last run?
wsrgo (@wsrgo)
25th May 2013, 18:27
@joshua-mesh That’s the first time I’m hearing anything like that. Where and when did that occur?
Joshua Mesh (@joshua-mesh)
25th May 2013, 18:32
With about 3 minutes remaining, Alonso left the pits early to do his final run. When he came down the straight to begin his run, Button had just left the pits and had gone around the corner. Brundle said that he hopes button gets out of Alonso’s way. Then a few moments later they showed Alonso going slow, mentioning that he must have aborted his lap, probably because he hit traffic (button).
Joshua Mesh (@joshua-mesh)
25th May 2013, 18:32
We never actually saw it on camera because we were watching Rosberg crawl around the track on his outlap.
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
25th May 2013, 18:54
I think he’ll have a really hard time of that: maybe Räikkönen but Vettel has been very good so far on the long runs and I reckon it’ll be Vettel challenging the Mercedes honestly, not Alonso challenging Vettel.
Shreyas Mohanty (@)
25th May 2013, 20:18
@vettel1 though in case of a safety car alonso could stop early and go for a long stint running in lead, and the kind of brilliance he is, he can convert it to a win. But for that, it is required that the safety car is out within the first two laps and also that nobody else gets smart. So a Vettel or Rosberg win tomorrow. I hope Rosberg. Lesser the points for Vettel, better for Alonso
AdrianMorse (@adrianmorse)
25th May 2013, 20:54
Well, if Vettel is expected to beat the Mercedes pair, and Alonso reckons he can get ahead of Vettel…
Chema Carrasco (@chemakal)
25th May 2013, 23:36
Clean start, good strategy and another brilliant drive in sunny Monaco and podium in