• Chinese Grand Prix

No hard feelings at Ferrari after pit entry clash

Fernando Alonso came off better after passing Felipe Massa into the pits © Getty Images

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• Championship:
• FIA Formula One World Championship

• Drivers:
• Fernando Alonso
• |
• Felipe Massa

• Teams:
• Ferrari

Ferrari drivers Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa insist there are no hard feelings between them after they nearly came together racing into the pits at the Chinese Grand Prix.

By getting in ahead Alonso ensured he was first in line for a fresh set of tyres, allowing him to race on to fourth while Massa had to queue behind in the pits and dropped down the field to ninth. Alonso said there was nothing unusual about the move and added he was looking forward to better results at the upcoming European races.

"The passing move on Felipe? If he was not my team-mate, there wouldn't be so much talk about it and for me it was a normal move and it definitely won't compromise our relationship," he said. "We have a great potential and we must hope we get some normal races like the one in Bahrain. The start of the championship has gone well: we have shown we are competitive on all the tracks and we have what it takes to win the title. Clearly, we have to up our points tally and improve our qualifying performance.

Massa said an error on his part had led to the overtaking manoeuvre by Alonso.

"As for the passing move Fernando made, I ended up on a puddle of water coming out of the hairpin and slightly lost control of the car: he managed to get inside me, passing me going into the pit lane," he said. "I lost some places because of it, as I had to wait for his stop to be finished."

He added that he was disappointed with his ninth place finish.

"This was a very complicated race and clearly I can't be happy with the result," he said. "Of course, two points are better than nothing, but in the upcoming races we have to do better and that means working on the development of the car. Right from the start, it was difficult to make the right choice in terms of what tyres to use because of the changeable weather."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.