Alonso starts off second in Japan
11/10/2011
Fernando Alonso finished this session in fourth place, with Ferrari performing a number of aerodynamic tests which did not prevent the Spaniard from dominating the timesheets for much of practice.
The driver ended the first free practice session three tenths behind Sebastian Vettel, who suffered an accident at the end of the period. As is usual on Fridays, Ferrari had the flow viz out to perform a number of aerodynamic tests with the focus now on the coming season.
Alonso finished fourth in this session and dominated the McLarens, heading the timesheets for much of practice and finally setting a best lap of 1:34.372.
In Free2 Fernando Alonso finished second (1:32.075) behind Jenson Button in his McLaren. The Spaniard turned in some very fast laps on the soft tyres, on which he has always performed strongly.
Alonso: "We are getting better vibrations than in Singapore"
Fernando Alonso believes he will be able to muscle in between the Red Bulls and McLarens, although he knows it will be difficult and suggested that "hopefully next year we will have a car like Vettel's and be able to take the fight to him".
"When everything goes for you, everything goes for you. This is proving the perfect year for him, and he has had huge superiority in terms of the car," said Alonso of the driver who is now just one point away from retaining his title. "He has always had the luck on his side. He has done the perfect job when he has needed to, in pole positions, starts, in the race... There have been some extremely challenging Grand Prix, in the rain, such as in Canada, where he kept calm to claim second place. The best thing that can happen is to get all the problems out of the way on Friday. He will win by as much of a margin as he can. I hope that next year we will have a car like that and will be able to take the fight to him," added the Spaniard, who is in the race for runners-up spot.
The Spanish two-time champion believes that the qualifying session on Saturday will be important, although not as much as last year: "Qualifying is always important at Suzuka, but this year with DRS, Kers and the tyre degradation there will be more overtaking (in Sunday's race). It will not be as decisive as in the past, but it will still be hugely important to be near the front of the grid. Hopefully things will go well in qualifying on Saturday".
Alonso did point out, though, that it is too early to draw any conclusions on the basis of Friday's evidence: "In Singapore we were second on Friday, and then in the race we were light years behind the leaders. We hope to be well placed tomorrow (in qualifying) even if everyone else is at their full potential, and to stick close to them".
"Our car is identical to the one we had in Singapore, but the Red Bulls and McLarens have brought a few upgrades here. And so if we can get in amongst them that would be excellent news, although of course it will be far from easy. We know we will have it tough in the race," he indicated.
"Both Felipe and I have had slightly better vibrations than in Singapore, and hopefully that will get us closer to the podium," added the Spaniard.
As for the tyre problems he had in Singapore, Alonso remarked: "We more or less have, or hope we have, a technical explanation for what happened in Singapore, and we do not think it will be repeated here".
Credit: Fernando Alonso (www.fernandoalonso.com)
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