• British Grand Prix - FP2

Alonso tips Red Bull for pole

Fernando Alonso on track during practice © Getty Images

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• Report:
• Webber maintains Red Bull form
  

• Drivers:
• Fernando Alonso
• |
• Felipe Massa

• Teams:
• Ferrari
• |
• Red Bull

Fernando Alonso expects Red Bull to take pole position at the British Grand Prix and predicts Ferrari will be in a four-way battle for the second row.

Alonso split the times of Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel in Friday practice, but believes he will be locked in a battle with McLaren, Renault and Mercedes - behind Red Bull - when it comes to Saturday's all-important qualifying. He said the Ferrari had improved markedly through high-speed corners with its new blown diffuser, but that there was still room for improvement.

"I think the only way to describe today is that it was a Friday like so many others," he said after practice. "I expected to be competitive because our car is much better than it was at the Turkish Grand Prix, which was the last time we raced at a track with similar characteristics to this one. As expected, Red Bull is very strong and therefore the big favourite for tomorrow's qualifying and behind them, we will fight it out with McLaren, Renault and maybe also Mercedes: nothing different there to Valencia.

"At this track, you need a car with a lot of aerodynamic downforce and slightly different suspension settings to usual. The new components introduced in Valencia and those brought here have improved the handling of the F10: we must continue to push on the car development front at each and every race.

"Regrets over the outcome of the last two races? The final adding up comes in Abu Dhabi. We lost points that were within our grasp but, in Barcelona for example, we were lucky to pick up others. Now there are 75 points up for grabs in the space of four weeks: we must try and do better than our rivals, trying to always finish on the podium, starting from here."

His Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa agreed that the car had improved and said the Silverstone-specific updates had already made a big difference.

"I would say it's been a good day for us," Massa said. "We tried out various new aerodynamic components and compared different configurations: by the end, the car was pretty good, with a variety of fuel loads and on both new and used tyres. We are doing so much work on the development of the car and one can see the benefits: the new elements we brought to the track for this Grand Prix did the job and can now be signed off after their track debut. After this good start, let's hope the weekend continues down this route."

However, when asked for their opinions on the new Silverstone layout, the Ferrari duo differed.

"I like the new part of the track: it is fun and safe and I think it improves the show," said Alonso, while Massa wasn't so positive.

"Honestly, I was expecting more in terms of overtaking opportunities: I do not think it will change the situation much compared to the past."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.