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Domenicali wants qualifying improvement

Fernando Alonso was 0.6s off pole position on Monaco © Sutton Images

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• Race:
• Monaco Grand Prix

• Drivers:
• Fernando Alonso
• |
• Stefano Domenicali

• Teams:
• Ferrari

Stefano Domencali wants Ferrari to improve its qualifying pace in order to defend Fernando Alonso's position at the top of the championship.

Alonso's third place in Monaco moved him two points clear of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber in the standings, but it came after he started in fifth place and had to use strategy to make progress. While Ferrari has undoubtedly improved its car since the Mugello test, it is still yet to secure a pole position and only inherited a front-row grid slot in Barcelona when Lewis Hamilton was excluded from qualifying.

Domenicali said that whether he was surprised or not that Alonso was leading the championship at this stage, Ferrari needs to continue working on its one-lap performance to remain competitive.

"Expected or unexpected it's the position, he's there, and that's a fact," Domenicali said. "It's a fact that this championship is very difficult to understand in terms of the complexity of the situation. For sure in terms of the pure performance of the car we had a very difficult start, but for sure on the other hand we had a situation where we are not happy because we want to improve the car.

"We have seen that other cars at the moment have done pole positions - we have not. So that has to be a target for the team because if you can fight for the pole position or you're already in pole position then the races will be different. This is something that we need to keep focusing on from our side and make sure that things are working in that direction. In that respect I feel that at home everyone is working to make sure that every race we keep on putting performance on the car, but that's the only thing that we have to do.

"On the other side I'm happy that we are leading, with such a championship we need to make sure that we don't lose points because if you lose points they are very heavy and there are so many drivers and competitors that are fighting for the win that you have to be always there."

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