Ferrari's Fernando Alonso admitted that he was not expecting anything better than a third row start at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, as the Ferraris once again proved no match for the Red Bull Racing or McLaren teams in qualifying.
Alonso and team mate Felipe Massa had shown flashes of pace during practice, but never really figured in the fight at the front of the field in qualifying.In the end, the Ferrari duo ended up locking out the third row, with Alonso 5th and Massa alongside in 6th.
And after the session, Alonso admitted that there was little more that the team could have expected, but said that he was still hoping to move forwards in the race.
"We are more or less where we expected to be going into the session. It's not because this is the eighth time out of eighteen qualifying sessions that I have ended up fifth," he pointed out.
"It's that, all year long, with a few rare exceptions, McLaren and Red Bull are stronger than us on Saturday, while on Sunday the situation is usually different, with the gaps between us being much closer."
He added: "We know we can fight for the podium, but to succeed, we will have to do everything perfectly, beginning with the start and our strategy.
"Tomorrow it will be interesting to see how the tyres will behave from the start to the finish of the race, as the temperature drops."
His team mate Massa on the other hand, suggested that he was somewhat disappointed to have ended up in 6th place, saying that he had struggled with his tyres in the session.
"To be honest, I hoped for more from this qualifying," the Brazilian mused after the session.
"I struggled more than expected to get the best out of the tyres on the first flying lap: maybe it would have been worth trying a longer run, with two attempts."
He also admitted that he had lost out by being forced to revert to the team's older version of the front wing.
"Sure, having to use the old type of front wing cost me something in terms of performance," he said, after he had changed from the wobbly version of the wing in final practice.
"Having said that, I don't think I could have got a place on the two front rows."
He added: "Tomorrow we will have to see what we can do. Certainly the DRS will help with overtaking, but we have seen on other occasions, even with the moveable rear wing, that it is not a foregone conclusion."
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