Question: After analyzing the race in Bahrain you said that Red Bull were slightly ahead of Ferrari. Where do you think that they have advantages and where do you see them for Ferrari?
Fernando Alonso: I don’t know. We need a couple of races to get a clearer picture about the pecking order. I think performance-wise Red Bull is a little bit ahead of everybody now, which is no surprise as they finished the 2009 season on a high and were able to keep the momentum. But it’s one thing to have the fastest car and another thing to win the race. We naturally will try to push them as much as we can, but that will also depend on the circuit. Take last year - sometimes Brawn were very strong and sometimes they were facing difficulties. Hopefully this weekend we are strong and will fight for the win.
Question: Do you think that Schumacher can again rise to the performance level that he had?
Fernando Alonso: Yes I think so. But in the end we’ve only had one race and we need to wait and see how the performance of the cars is - who is quick, who is not. We also need to understand the rules better - if the show is good enough or not. We need to learn more about the tyres and what the best strategy might be. So with this in mind it is difficult to say what’s with Michael. Who knows? Will he be strong? Why not? I think his talent and capacity to drive a Formula One car will never disappear. To be honest, after Bahrain is just like before Bahrain, because after only one race everything is still wide open. Ask me again in three or four races.
Question: Would you agree with a number of people that making two pit stops compulsory would make all the difference?
Fernando Alonso: Difficult to know and to answer. I don’t think so. If you have to do two stops everything will remain the same. With the qualifying format with no fuel, the fastest car holds the pole position so who will overtake that guy in the race - no one! This year we have the fastest cars starting from the best grid positions, so to overtake through that in the race is difficult - even with a creative strategy. I watched the race for analysis and for me it was not boring at all: I saw the fight between Vettel and the two Ferraris, behind was the fight between Rosberg and Hamilton in the first part, and then between Michael, Jenson and Webber in the second part, so it was a compact race with a lot of action going on. There have been many fights, unfortunately no overtaking. But this is not new because of the 2010 rules. No overtaking has been a norm over the last 15 years.
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