• European Grand Prix - Qualifying

'I'm not fast enough' - Alonso

ESPN Staff
June 23, 2012 « Grosjean content with fourth on the grid in Valencia | Raikkonen hoping Lotus' tyre advantage pays off »
Fernando Alonso failed to qualify in the top ten for only the second time this season © Press Association
Enlarge

Fernando Alonso explained that there was nothing wrong with the Ferrari despite qualifying in 11th place for the European Grand Prix.

Having looked strong throughout practice and with Luca di Montezemolo present in Valencia, Ferrari had a disappointing qualifying session as neither car made it out of Q2. Alonso explained that there was no specific issue with the car that had caused the team to lose out and that it was simply not one of the ten quickest cars.

"I'm not fast enough," Alonso said. "I think we were not quick enough, and when you are out of Q3 it is normally because you deserve it and you didn't do the job. I have to recover tomorrow and hopefully make some positions but balance-wise and performance-wise there was nothing particularly wrong."

Alonso added that it was a case of a number of teams improving and being closely matched, pointing out that Ferrari had actually halved the deficit to the front since the last race.

"In Montreal we were about 0.4s from pole position in Q2 and here we were 0.2s from pole position in Q2, so performance-wise it's one of the best performances for us this year, position-wise it's one of the worst. But it's so tight on performance, and as I said from a handling point of view driving the car everything felt good and better than ever.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
ESPN Staff Close