The Malaysian Insider :: Sports
The Malaysian Insider :: Sports |
| Vettel switching chassis in bid to salvage title defence Posted: 08 May 2014 08:48 AM PDT The four-time world champion said it was a move that was aimed at helping the team to understand why the German driver had languished behind his rivals, including new Red Bull team-mate, Australian Daniel Ricciardo. "I think we concluded after China, where we were quite a little bit behind, to change the chassis," Vettel said. "It is not a new chassis, it is an old one we used in testing in the winter and we have some experience with it. "It is just to try everything we can." Vettel explained that he was making the move for this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix in case car problems contributed to his recent struggles. Although he finished on the podium in Malaysia, he was only sixth and fifth in the following races in Bahrain and China – and had to move aside for team-mate Ricciardo on both occasions. Notably, when Red Bull confirmed Vettel would use a new chassis in Spain, the team suggested it was a scheduled move. But Vettel said the decision was made after Shanghai as part of an effort to ensure every possible cause of his troubles was investigated. He told reporters: "It is not unusual to change chassis generally, we decided to change back to an older chassis just to make sure that nothing is wrong." – AFP, May 8, 2014. |
| Alonso rules out podium for Ferrari in Spain Posted: 08 May 2014 08:45 AM PDT The team, however, was building up a 'slow recovery' after a mediocre start to the season and could recover the speed to join the championship scrap, the Spaniard said. Just a few hours after hearing that the pace-setting Mercedes team believed that Ferrari were their main rivals, Alonso said he had no expectation of delivering another top-three finish, as in China last month. "We will do our best," said the two-time world champion who won his and Ferrari's last race a year ago in front of his fellow-Spaniards. "We know it will be a tough weekend, and you never know. "It is sport, anything can happen, but today sitting here if I tell you I will fight for the podium, probably I will lie to you and I don't want to do so for all the people that are coming. "We cannot start the weekend thinking to be on the podium or thinking to win the race. That will be creating wrong and false targets to everyone that will come here. "We finished ninth and 10th in Bahrain and we did a podium in China because we put some things together that Sunday. So, it is not that we are in a position now that we will fight for the podium here." Looking ahead, he stressed that he believed it was possible to catch Mercedes before they were beyond reach in the title race. "We must do anything we can to close that gap and become competitive," he said. "That will not happen between one race and the next one. "It will be a slow recovery and hopefully not too late when we become competitive in terms of points to fight for the championship. So let's do it race by race. "China was a combination of things, and good luck to get that podium. Here in Barcelona is a good point to check how competitive we are, a circuit with different characteristics again and a circuit that will give us an answer or some of the parameters where we need to find some answers. "Then there is Monaco, Canada, completely different circuits. We are in a moment of the championship and we need to ask many, many things in terms of how competitive we can be." – AFP, May 8, 2014. |
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