Ferrari duo say race still wide-open
Date published : 03 Apr 2010 - 13:57:44
Ferrari drivers Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa are aiming to salvage as many points as possible from the Malaysian Grand Prix after their shock exits from the first knockout qualifying session.The pair paid the price for waiting for the weather conditions to improve rather than banking a lap time at the start of Q1.Alonso admitted Ferrari had misjudged the situation, but observed that the series of downpours turned qualifying into a lottery.But having charged from the back of the field to fourth after a first-lap incident in Melbourne, the former champion is ready to do the same again at Sepang.Today, it went badly for us and we found ourselves in the wrong place the track at the wrong time, said Alonso, who will line up 19th on the grid.However, the result of qualifying is only worth the paper on which it is written, because the points are assigned at the end of the race. Of course, starting from the back puts us in a difficult position but, as we saw last Sunday in Melbourne, anything can happen and we have to trust in our abilities.We must do our best to bring home a points finish.Massa echoed his team-mate's assessment.We made a mistake and we were caught out by the weather forecast, summarised the Brazilian, who will start two places behind Alonso in 21st.Now we must do our best for tomorrow's race.It will be tough, as always when you start from the back of the grid, but we will have to try and score at least a few points.It's hard to say whether it's better to hope for rain or sunshine: maybe with the former there might be more chance of the tables being turned, but it's equally true that there are more chances of ending up out of the race."Team boss Stefano Domenicali freely admits Ferrari had made the wrong call, but insists the race is still wide-open, particularly given the high likelihood of more rain.We are very disappointed with the way qualifying went, he said.We made an error of judgement in trusting the weather forecast: When we went out on track the rain, rather than dying down, suddenly got even stronger.With hindsight, it is easy to say we should have gone out immediately.It's a real shame because all the signs were that we could have done well and now we will have to prepare for an uphill fight in the race.But there's no point in crying about things before they have even happened, because the race is not until tomorrow.And as we saw today, anything could happen.We will try and pick up as many points as possible, making the most of any opportunity that presents itself.
