Alonso hoping to be one of the main challengers!

By role
July 20 2004

Fernando Alonso is ready for the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim. After a difficult race in traffic at Silverstone where he finished 10th , the Spaniard wants to bounce back and savour the podium at the German track.

Hockwenheim is a driver track, according to Alonso, and one that punish even the slightest mistake: “Hockenheim is often all about concentration for the drivers. It is usually very hot there, so the conditions in the cockpit are quite demanding, and to be quick we need to be very precise in how we drive. There is a lot of heavy braking into slow corners, and especially on heavy fuel loads or in the race on worn tyres, the slightest slip can mean that competitors will get by you on the exit of the corner. This is a circuit where overtaking is quite easy at certain points, and if you make mistakes, the cars behind will often punish you.” He said. The R24 seems that will adapt well to the track and therefore the team is optimistic: “Well, with the current layout, the most important areas are getting good mechanical grip, and also very good traction - but keeping the top speed quite high into the hairpin at turn 4. The R24 has been strong in these areas, as we have seen at circuits like Monaco and Montreal, so I think we should be optimistic. Equally, the team will be looking to bounce back from Silverstone with a good result.” He added. Alonso is ready to push after a frustrating British Grand Prix: “Personally, I was pretty frustrated after Silverstone, because I spent the whole race following slower cars and just couldn't find any clear track. So hopefully, we will have a problem-free weekend so that we can run at our proper pace. However, this year, it has become more and more difficult to predict who will be strong at which circuits: we have expected to be good in some places where we were not, and have had a nice surprise at other circuits, like France. A lot will depend on the tyres, of course, but we will hope to be one of the main challengers to Ferrari on Sunday afternoon. We need to start scoring points again to maintain our championship position.” He concluded.