- Ferrari
Ferrari has to be 'more clever' - Alonso
Fernando Alonso says Ferrari needs to outsmart its rivals to catch up this season, but is confident he will still be in the title race come the end of the season.
Alonso has made a solid if unspectacular start to the season with two fourth place finishes at the opening two races. He believes there is a lot more to come with each step forward Ferrari makes and is sure he will be fighting for the title at the final race in Abu Dhabi.
"Definitely, yes, I still think we can do a good job," he said. "It is a very young car. All the things we find on the wind tunnel or the power area are not steps we used to see in the last years, half a tenth, half a tenth. Now you see a couple of tenths in any step. So there is very good room to improve in all areas, to become more competitive.
"At the same time, it is the same for everybody so we just need to be a little more clever than the other teams and find this little extra. Unfortunately we start with a deficit so we need to close this gap but the potential is there and there is no question that we think that in Abu Dhabi we will be in the fight. That's for sure."
Ferrari is clearly down on power compared to Mercedes, but Alonso said the deficit to the front it was not all down to the new power unit.
"Difficult to split the area they are stronger. We all know the power-unit is very efficient and it is quite strong because we see other cars are very competitive with the Mercedes engine. But the McLaren finished 84 seconds behind the Mercedes, the Mercedes is obviously also good. It is not only the engine. So we just need to improve the package. We need to improve in all areas.
"Red Bull, for example, after a tough winter and some difficulties they managed to change the situation and become competitive very quickly. We will try to do better and only the second race, long way to go and we are ready to fight."
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
