- Hungarian Grand Prix - FP2
Alonso willing to sacrifice race pace
- Race:
- Hungarian Grand Prix
Fernando Alonso says Ferrari should sacrifice some of its race pace if it gives it a better chance in qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix.
With overtaking notoriously difficult at the Hungaroring, qualifying takes on added importance in order to gain track position at the start of the race. Alonso finished FP2 in fourth place as Ferrari showed encouraging one-lap pace but he said that the tyres are likely to deliver a similar race to 2012 - when there were only six on-track overtakes - and as a result race pace will be secondary to qualifying.
"The type of tyre has not changed, so we can count on last year's experience and apart from that, they are the same for everyone," Alonso said. "To gain an advantage over our rivals, it helps to understand them as well and as quickly as possible. Here, more than at other tracks, starting from the front is extremely important and for this reason I believe that everyone will try and optimise their cars for qualifying, even if it means sacrificing a bit for the race."
Team-mate Felipe Massa agreed but added that the pace of the car was looking strong in both qualifying and race trim.
"All went well today and we tested everything on the programme, with the car seeming reasonably competitive," Massa said. "Even the long runs produced positive results and that is a very important factor for the rest of the weekend. Now we must decide which of the solutions we tried can be used for qualifying and the race. On this track, it's really important to start as far up the order as possible and we will do all we can to be in the game. On Sunday, it will be difficult for everyone, as overtaking is almost impossible here and on top of that, they are predicting very high temperatures, which is a factor that needs to be given plenty of consideration when it comes to getting the maximum out of our car."