They have been very close together on track, but no bad words ever afterwards. So far it has obviously helped that they are friends ouside the car, but who knows what a real coming together would do to that.

Webber will have to be more cautious than Fernando. Fernando has 25 points in the bank. Webber is behind the 8ball after race one. He needs a result.

I agree with you on that. Webber cant let Vettel get too far ahead otherwise Vettel will start getting preferential treatment early on in the season. If Webber takes Alonso out and Vettel won the race, the Webber would already have a massive disadvantage. It would be the equivelent of 14 points in last years old money.

If Alonso finishes 3rd then he is still leading the championship, but only by a small margin. Ferrari need to do something, and quick because that Red Bull is mighty. If its reliability hold then Vettel has to be firm favourite for the championship.

Alonso wants a result.

Champion speaking

I believe Renault could've done that earlier if they wanted to but they just didn't see the need with McLaren's breaking down almost every race. Why push if it's not necessary, championships are won with the right mixture of speed and consistency and not by sheer speed only. And I believe that's Alonso's mentality too, I've never seen him as one of the fastest drivers out there, but give him a decent car and he will deliver more or less every race.

I kinda disagree. For Fernando it's not just this race, he's thinking about the WDC. So he'll prefer 15 point rather than 0

Keep in mind that in qualifying everyone is on the same fuel load, hence same weight, but in the race Ferrari start heavier due to their thirstier engine and hence will be slower at the start and probably the first half of the race. Then slowly they will speed up relatively to the competition and have a better 2nd half of the race. Alonso knows this and will just try to stay close to the Red Bulls so that he can possibly attack them in the 2nd half, as in Bahrain. Of course he is more vulnerable at the start, but he did seem to manage just fine in Bahrain.


Cooper

And that's why I put £100 on him to win the championship before the season started

On whom?

Lets just hope he doesn't get a penalty for blocking Schumacher in Q3.

Alonso giving grandpa-like history lessons to Vettel at the end of qualifying:

http://www.lasexta.com/sextatv/formula1/la...ustralia/244392

In the last segment (move to it by using >>|), 17:45, when they got out of the medical car, you can hear them talk:

"...and the Hispano Suiza, which was a car that they did only five cars [...] in thirty-eight, in ninety thirty-eight..." [Vettel pretends he is interested]

Apparently he has been cleared

La Gazzeta de lo Sport

Alonso was mighty today. Marc Gené said in the spanish tv that he´s surpassed all the high expectations Ferrari had in him!
Let´s hope for a P2 tomorrow, or at least a podium.

i like your cautious and sensible approach, but dont make the mistake to make a story out of a non-story.

Alonso was extremely impressive in free practice (I did not watch qualifying): he as manhandling the car, making it stick to the trajectory in forceful steering movements in spite of the speed.

Alonso is always very fast in fast tracks, but to watch him in practice is really something.

There is a chance of rain 15mins into the race, according to the other thread.

Without the rain and Alonso beating Webber into turn-1, it will be a boring race for Vettel because I think only Webber could keep the pace with Vettel. Unless of course Vettel experiencing another spark plug issue....

-KB

Could anyone hear what Alonso was saying on the radio today when his engineer said something like 'Hamilton is only 3 seconds behind'? The BBC comentator said Alonso's reply was the 'quote of the day' but I didn't catch what he exactly said.

He said "I don't want to know!"

It's going to be the quote of the season

Great damage limitation from Alonso today. After he spun he could not spin around for a long time and even had to over take the safety car, so to salvage 4th and retain the wdc lead was great in the end, although its a pity because with a better start he would have won the race easy imo.

Yes finishing 4th when you are last at turn 2 is always a good result. It should have been 2nd or 3rd had the team done the sensible thing and pulled the scruffy outpaced Massa over. ( yes i know technically its illegal but come on )

I think Alonso might have succeed on Kubica but at least Alonso managed to hold Hamilton which I doubt Massa would have done for Ferrari.

Alonso seems to be too prone to crap starts, despite a great start last race.
Apart from that, it was a great race from him, and he could have got 2nd if not stuck behind a team mate. Until then his times were similar to Hamiltons. Great defending against Hamilton too.

He still seems to be in a good frame of mind, whilst one title rival is badly rattled and another had reliability issues again.

Indeed, it would seem Alonso (and to an extent Kubica) are the kryptonite to his insane ability to overtake

That's one of the things I worry about (as an Alonso fan). He doesn't seem to be very good at starts, especially last year, in some of the races he was awful at the start (I remember, he usually qualified 6-7 places ahead of Piquet and that advantage would often disappear after the first corner!) And he can lose much with that this year.

At the start of the race the Mercedes team was telling Schumacher that he should position his car in the middle of grid slot and be careful not to place (rear) tires over the white lines, which - as we all know - can be very slippery when wet. Perhaps this is the mistake that Alonso and Webber made at the start and that caused the wheels slipping and thus a bad start?

I preferred the one when he questioned why everyone was pitting.

I actually thought before lights went out that Alonso might get a bad start since he was in the white line. Don't know...

that was a top dollar comment and had me creasing when he said that!

Congrats to Jenson. Great race/strategy.

Congrats to Alonso/Ferrari. Talk about damage control. They went in knowing Massa is not fast in Oz, that the Brazilian does not like to drive in the rain and then Alonso gets hit and ends up in 20th position after the 1st curve. Fast forward fifty-some odd laps and they are 3rd and 4th, with Vettel and Webber out of the picture, only conceding, well, not conceding, losing sounds better, to Button.

If Ferrari and McLaren keep racking up points this early in the season it is going to be mighty hard for Red Bull to keep in contention. This has to be exponentially irritiating for the team because they know they have The Best Car. Period.

Great race for Fernando, bad beggining, the only 1 that could block lewis with old tyres and air-kers. 4th and and more points ahead with his rivals.

looking at the start....i'm not sure what Alonso could have done, Button was on the inside and Michael was right next to him on the outside line. His best bet was probably to turn in and hope for the best.....obviously it didnt work out but i'm not sure how you can blame Alonso? equally it could be said that Button should have slowed down considering that he saw Alonso ahead of him and turning in......but thats racing, still a great comeback

Alonso was fantastic yesterday

It was exactly that, white lines. Not sure if Alonso confirmed it, but search for videos and replay the race start. You can see the Ferrari over the line.

Cheers.

Yeah, he confirmed after the race that his car skidded because of the white lines in the grid

Every detail counts!
Wasn't it Ross Brawn that advise Schumacher to not put his tyre on the white line when they approach the grid?!

Horner:

He knows perfectly who is the enemy...

Not enemy, rival.

I can't believe Fernando did that mistake, is more a rookie mistake than anything.

ok

It is not the first time when he says this and he knows what he is talking. I know Malaysia will suits RedBull, but it suits Alonso as well...

Just a li'l bit correction! It was his race engineer Andrew Shovlin.

What is the difference??

From wiki....

"A rival is a competing person, company, team, or other organization. Rivals are not always similarly matched, but they are well known to each other."

"An enemy is a person who hates or dislikes another person. The opposite of a friend."

I think the diference is clear, isn't it?

That's what Fernando said about Massa: "He's my rival, not my enemy".

I think it's great that after two tough years 4th place is only seen as a so so result. There were many races he could only dream of 4th.

It's brilliant to see you back in a top team Nando! The hardship of the last 2 . . or even 3 years all seems worth it now

Adam Cooper Interview
http://adamcooperf1.com/2010/04/01/fernand...ternoon-points/

Must admit, from a womans perspective, Alonso has very nice legs.

Not at Schumacher's level but very close.

One of the main reasons I like Alonso. He hasn't only got a brain, but isn't afraid to use it too.