APRIL 8, 2011

Bad start for Ferrari in Malaysia

Despite hopes for a much stronger showing in Malaysia than Melbourne, Ferrari suffered a bad first day at Sepang with Felipe Massa sixth, 1.2s behind the Red Bull pace, and Fernando Alonso another half a second and three slots further back.

Felipe Massa, Malaysian GP 2011
© The Cahier Archive

Despite hopes for a much stronger showing in Malaysia than Melbourne, Ferrari suffered a bad first day at Sepang with Felipe Massa sixth, 1.2s behind the Red Bull pace, and Fernando Alonso another half a second and three slots further back.

"Given how things went today it looks like being a difficult weekend," Alonso said. "We struggled to find a good balance on the car and tonight we will have to look to see how we can improve. But, on a track like this, with such variable weather and tyre degradation what it is, there will be a lot of factors and being quick will not be enough.

"We are not quick enough to fight for the win and pole position but that does not mean that we will throw in the towel. We just have to step up our efforts to reduce the gap to those who have done a better job."