Alonso kicking himself after crash

Fernando Alonso took full blame for his spin during second practice at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and said he was annoyed with himself after losing valuable set-up time.

 

 

Alonso lost the rear of his Ferrari on the entrance kerb to turn one in a near identical accident to Sebastian Vettel earlier in the session. His car went into the barrier rear-end first, breaking the suspension and bringing an end to his evening's running.

"Just as was the case in India a fortnight ago, again here in Abu Dhabi, I lost a bit of time: there it was the engine that left me standing at the side of the track and here it was an off-track excursion," Alonso said. "It's not that there's a particular problem with grip at turn one, but if you touch the kerb when braking then you do lose some grip. As for me and Vettel both going off the track at the same point, I saw a lot of similarities: maybe tomorrow, we will try and stay a bit more towards the middle of the track without going so near the limit at this corner! I am annoyed about losing some time, but above all, I am sorry for the mechanics who now have extra work to do to put the car together again. I will try and repay them with a nice lap tomorrow evening in qualifying."

Alonso said it had been a fairly straightforward Friday otherwise, as his team focused on its new components for 2012 and the development soft tyres Pirelli supplied to every team. However, he is confident Ferrari is in better shape than it expected to be.

"I did not have anything new to try today so we concentrated mainly on a comparison of two different levels of aerodynamic downforce and on assessing the new Pirelli tyres for 2012," Alonso said. "As usual, it's difficult to say where we are compared to everyone else, because there are always plenty of unknowns on Friday. I don't think I'll be fighting for pole or the win, but the first impressions are that we are in ever so slightly better shape than we had expected to be going into this weekend.

"The track had improved by the second session, which was partly down to the lower temperature: at lunchtime it was really hot on the track! With the soft tyre we definitely feel comfortable, but also with the harder compound, we did not look so bad, as indeed we have seen in the last few races."