Melbourne will reveal where we stand - Alonso

By Jay
March 2 2011

Ferrari's ace driver Fernando Alonso has said that the first race in Melbourne will determine where his team stands in terms of pace against their closest rivals.

Speaking at the function organised by his sponsor, Santander, he said, “We will only really know where we stand compared to the others when we are in Melbourne. At the moment, I am happy because we proved to have a reliable car.”

He added, “If all goes to plan, we will be in the group of teams capable of fighting for the title, along with Red Bull the reigning champions, McLaren, Mercedes and also Renault, who had already made a step forward towards the end of last season. Even Toro Rosso has made significant progress.”

Being asked on the importance of Pirelli tyres being the key factor this year, he said, “No, the key is to be faster than the rest, as always. From what we have seen so far, degradation is very significant, which means we will have races with lots of pit stops."

"I’m not keen on that because I think this increased uncertainty does not favour the strongest teams. It’s as if in football, it was decided to have a penalty per team each half hour in which case Barcelona and Real Madrid would not be jumping for joy. However, the situation is the same for everyone: it will be important to be fastest because I don’t think we can make one stop less than our main rivals.”