Spaniard also insists Ferrari upgrades are working well
Sunday 4 November 2012 12:18, UK
Fernando Alonso said he was "very calm" about the prospect of a penalty for Sebastian Vettel after qualifying for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - a feeling that might have changed now his title rival is starting Sunday's race from the pitlane.
He was right about the stewards' deliberations: the decision was four-and-a-half hours in coming. Yet it was not the first time a prediction Alonso had made this week was proved correct. Speaking on Thursday, he had pondered whether reliability problems for Red Bull might play into Ferrari's hands as the title race reaches its climax. Alonso was referring to the KERS problems experienced by Mark Webber in India last weekend that allowed him to pass the Australian and claim second place behind Vettel. It was the German's turn to suffer on Saturday, however, when first brake problems in final practice and then an issue with his car's fuel system placed Vettel on the backfoot. Alonso had been on the defensive himself, insisting that the upgrades Ferrari have brought to this race are working, even though they were off the pace set by McLaren and Red Bull. "The updates, they were fine, they were working very good. They'll give us more performance. Thank you to the team for giving us the updates at the very last moment and working flat out; also the mechanics for very long days and nights here preparing everything in our cars," he added. "They worked fine but for sure the others do improvements as well and they make a step forward. So unfortunately we didn't improve much the situation of the positions in this qualifying. But everything was good."
