Korea GP : the qualifying session

Korea GP : Alonso & Massa Friday quotes

Fernando Alonso(no time , 4th) :
"It was a difficult Friday with the changing weather conditions making it impossible for further analysis of the weekend. When we consider that it should not rain tomorrow and Sunday, then it is clear that this day will not means nothing. The goal is always to do the best we can, to understand the behavior of the car here but also to test the parts, like the new front wing. It is really impossible to draw any conclusion, McLaren seemed to comfortable with. We need more laps to see our performance because it is necessary that the tires heat up, because once it is hot grip is better. We'll have to improvise a little, for qualifying and the race . The entrance to the pit exit is much improved with respect to last year, this is not the case for the exit."
Felipe Massa(no time , 7th) :
"It was a complicated day and the track had no grip and tire degradation intermediates seemed more important than usual. There is no other way to explain our time, we Little did. Obviously, it is difficult to prepare as best as possible for qualifying and the race, but it's the same for everyone. The pit exit is dangerous because you can not see other cars and the collision between Rosberg and Alguersuari is an example and so I think that efforts should be done to improve. This is my 150th F1 race and it's nice, I remember times when I won including the worst moment of my career: Brazil 2008. My worst memories? races like Hungary and Singapore, during which the victory narrowly escaped me."

Korea GP : FP1

Japan GP : Alonso & Massa Sunday quotes

Fernando Alonso(2nd) :
"I want to extend my congratulations to Sebastian Vettel, who won his second world title today in a season that has dominated, either in qualifying or the race was perfect and amazing, the title is deserved. For our hand, we can not do more than that, we gave ourselves up to try to make a perfect race, we must now give our best to beat him next year. We were close to victory, we knew that in qualifying we would be behind McLaren and Red Bull, but in the race when there are tire damage variables, then we can exploit opportunities like this. The others were very strong, especially during the five or first six laps, then performance fell. This podium is an inspiration for the last four races of the season.
It was a fun race to which the strategy was important and unlike the last few races, we had a rthme to fight for victory and we will try to do the same in Korea. We will try to win or at least be on the podium ..."
Felipe Massa() :
"I have a bitter taste after this race because our pace was good enough to finish on the podium, Alonso has shown but I finished seventh. It's too bad for my contact with Hamilton, it was slightly damaged my car I saw him at the end of the race, but this has not greatly affected the car. I think the video speaks for itself, he was in trouble with his tires and I was with him when he came up against me for no reason, I let you be the judge of the images but it is useless for me to say more about it. I want to congratulate Vettel for his role, he is great and deserves the title, I am very happy for him."

Japan GP : Alonso & Massa Saturday quotes

Fernando Alonso(5th) :
"I'm not surprised at this result the Red Bull and McLaren were quicker than us, as was already the case yesterday. At least we managed to get ahead of Webber and confirm that it seems that this season I am subscriber places to fifth on the grid. Tomorrow I expect that the degradation of tires are one of the major characteristics of the race, with the possibility of multiple stops. This means that the strategy will be. We hope that we will not have the same problems in Singapore. We will try to make the best choices to fight for the podium, which is a realistic goal. The victory certainly less, as we saw in qualifying, McLaren seems close to Red Bull, the start will be important. Massa and I will try to put pressure on them and try to win tickets, we will try to have our say.
My first run in Q3? I pushed up, but after looking at the analysis of lap times, I do not think I could have done much better than my second run."
Felipe Massa(4th) :
"It was a difficult qualifying session, but at least we managed to keep one of the top four cars behind us. It's never easy to make a perfect lap here and my last lap was good, even if I lost time in the last sector. Tomorrow it will be important to a good start, I Hamilton with me and it does not change much for me, whether he or someone else. The race promises to be complicated, with lots of pit stops to change tires that show a sharp decline, so the strategy will have a key role here. It will be important to find the right pace to be fast without too much damage the tires. Exceed will not be easy despite the KERS and the DRS but maybe that will help tire following strategies. Our goal is the podium, we are not far away, the goal is achievable."

Japan GP : Alonso & Massa Friday quotes

Fernando Alonso(4th , 2nd) :
"This year you have found that all the teams have ups and downs, with the exception of Red Bull, so we should not be too surprised by the performance today, but it seems that our performance is better than those of Singapore. But only on Friday, we had ever had a good Friday and to be fifth in qualifying. In fact I think things are not so different from the situation of including two weeks ago because the cars have not changed. We hope to be able to fight with McLaren and Red Bull but we know that it will not be easy. What we can say is that the sense of today is a bit more encouraging with respect to previous races, but we must keep in mind that the races are more open than in the past, so the final result differs from the grid.
Strategy, tire degradation, the drs are factors that create uncertainty and improve the performance. For example here, I think we'll have a lot of overtaking, more than in past years."
Felipe Massa(7th , 5th) :
"Overall it was a good day compared to other Fridays of the season, first impressions are good and the car feels pretty good, but it is true that we do not know where we stand against our rivals. We have a lot of work for the afternoon qualifying tomorrow, we must learn some important things for the rest of the weekend. In addition, the tire degradation seems important, what will make the race more open strategies and it will have the right and a car in place that should be easy to fly. I think we can fight for the podium, which is our goal and of course I always want to be able to fight for victory, but it's true that Red Bull have a significant advantage, but we must continue to believe in our chances, because in this kind of race anything can happen."

Fernando's blog : welcome to Suzuka !

I arrived in Japan this morning and I found rain waiting to greet me this afternoon when I got to the track at Suzuka. My first thought was, “better today than Saturday or Sunday,” because this year, a wet track has not really brought us much luck. I’m thinking particularly of Canada, where we really looked to have everything required to take the win but in the end, it turned out to be our only no-score of the season so far. The forecast for the week is reasonably good, at least for the first few days, while on Sunday, the threat of rain is slightly higher. In fact, you can never be too sure what to expect here: for example last year, we had to run qualifying on Sunday morning as there had been a storm the previous day which meant the track was unusable. I went back home after the Singapore Grand Prix. Now we have these two back-to-back races in the Far East, followed by Formula 1’s debut in India, so with that in mind, I felt it was best to relax a bit with the family before the final rush of the season. Even if it’s true we are no longer even mathematically in the hunt for the Drivers’ title, there are still plenty of reasons to retain our motivation to tackle these last five races with the right attitude. First of all there’s second place in the Drivers’ table. Given how the season has gone so far, with Vettel totally dominant, failing to get on the podium only once, being runner-up would really be a great result for me and for the team. There are four of us in the running, as I am up against Webber and the two McLaren guys and I reckon we will have to wait until Interlagos to find out who it will go to.

Clearly, if one looks at the way recent races have gone, it will definitely not be easy, as my closest rivals seem to have that little bit extra in terms of car performance, but that does not mean it’s a lost cause. We know we have to do everything perfectly if we want to reach our goal and we will be trying right to the very end. Then, there’s still second place in the Constructors’ championship, but this is a much harder target, because there’s a significant gap to McLaren, but it’s not impossible. In the end, myself and all the team just want to end a season that did not go the way we wanted in the best way possible. Taking at least one win would be the maximum, while the important thing is to always be in the fight for the podium places. I’ve won the Japanese Grand Prix twice; once at Fuji and once here at Suzuka, the latter being the best of the two, but I’m sure no one in my current team would agree with that. I can understand that, because I can appreciate how disappointed they must have been when Michael had to retire while leading ahead of me. It’s always bad to see a car stop with a failure. In fact, the same thing happened to me a few weeks earlier in Monza: Formula 1 can be a cruel sport at times.

After Sunday’s race I will go to Tokyo, a city I like a lot. Along with Felipe, I will take part in an event organised by Ferrari Japan for the launch of the 458 Spider. We will also be auctioning a nose section off a 150º Italia used in the Australian Grand Prix, the one that carried a message of support for victims of the earthquake that hit this country a few weeks before that race. I know Ferrari Japan is involved in various initiatives aimed at gathering funds to build a school at Ishinomaki, one of the areas most badly affected. On Saturday at the circuit, we will meet some kids from that city, so it will be nice to be able to do something significant for them.