• German Grand Prix

Alonso praises Ferrari's strategic call

Fernando Alonso pit for a new set of wet tyres to do a final run in qualifying © Sutton Images

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• Report:
• Alonso secures pole at wet Hockenheim
  

• Race:
• German Grand Prix

• Drivers:
• Fernando Alonso

• Teams:
• Ferrari

Fernando Alonso praised Ferrari's decision to pit for a new set of wet weather tyres during Q3 as he took pole position for the German Grand Prix.

Heavy rain made conditions very difficult at the start and Alonso said on the radio between Q2 and Q3 that he didn't think the session should start. Race director Charlie Whiting didn't agree and proceeded as normal, and while Alonso maintained that conditions were dangerous, he said Ferrari made the best of the situation with its strategy.

"I think it was very on the limit, the conditions," Alonso said. "As far as it's the same for everybody, I think sometimes it's good to check the circuit conditions as we did Q3 and I think going in to turn six it was not easy for anybody. There was a lot of aquaplaning and we are at 280/290kph.

"But everything went well for us, we backed off a little bit in those aquaplaning moments but the rest of the lap was clean and I think we also made a great strategy call making a pit stop in Q3 and then having very fresh tyres in the last minute when the track was in a little bit better condition and I think that helped us a lot to improve the lap time."

Looking ahead to the race, Alonso said he was confident Ferrari would be strong whatever the weather.

"It has been a strange weekend for conditions on the track. I think we've had all the conditions so far during the weekend - we ran with inters, extreme and dry tyres on both days. Tomorrow we'll see if we have to repeat the same thing or if it will be more of a dry race - the forecast should be a little bit better for tomorrow so let's see. I think the car was performing well in all conditions so we are quite optimistic for tomorrow."

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