- Italian GP - Qualifying
Alonso: Seventh was 'completely on the limit'
Fernando Alonso says he could not have extracted any more from his Ferrari after turning in four identical lap times on his way to seventh on the grid at Monza.
Alonso was faster through the speed trap than McLaren, suggesting Ferrari had sacrificed some performance in the corners for a lower downforce package than its rivals. Every car in front of Alonso is Mercedes powered and he thinks seventh was the best result available.
"It was a nice session for me, I think," Alonso said. "It's difficult after free practice because we always create some optimism because we seem to be always a little more competitive - probably we run different fuel loads compare to our opponents.
"In qualifying we know they [Mercedes and Williams] turn up the engine and are a little bit quicker than us normally so we expected a tough qualifying and it was. I was completely on the limit today. I had two runs in Q2 and two runs in Q3 and I did four identical lap times, so I could put 100 sets of tyres on and I would do identical timed laps.
"It was absolutely the maximum and it was positive for me because I see two Mercedes, two Williams, two McLarens, one Ferrari, two Red Bulls, so personally I think I struck the maximum. The important thing is to do a good race tomorrow."
Despite feeling the weight of expectation from the tifosi Alonso says Ferrari needs to consider a measured approach on Sunday.
"We cannot be crazy about just the first corner and try to be too aggressive and have a problem. We need the points, we need to help the team and give some satisfaction to our tifosi as well. Today we could not fight for pole position unfortunately and tomorrow they will expect the maximum.
"That maximum is to have a perfect race and we have to balance this attacking race plus finishing the race with good points to help the team - this is what they expect from us. Williams and Mercedes seem too fast. Then there is a group of McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull quite close within one or two tenths so hopefully we can lead that group."
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