Based on last year’s performance, Fernando Alonso sees Ferrari as the favorites in the upcoming races, and he is not the only one who has the Reds on his radar
In the last few Formula 1 races, McLaren has established itself as a new benchmark. After Lando Norris’ dominant performance in Zandvoort, Red Bull also had to admit this recently. But if Fernando Alonso has his way, Ferrari is the favorite for the upcoming Grands Prix.
When asked about the current balance of power, the Spaniard says: “I think as far as the top four teams are concerned, Mercedes is perhaps a bit up and down. But McLaren, Red Bull and Ferrari are podium contenders every weekend.”
“In the next races, Ferrari should be the car to beat, as we saw last year in Monza and Singapore. Leclerc won in Monaco then and also in Singapore. I think they will be the favorites.”
Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur can do little with this advance praise, however. “I don’t need anyone to tell me that we are the favorites or not. We will have the same approach as always,” he emphasizes.
“Of course, I hope that we will be in better shape at the next two or three events. Last year, we were in much better shape on these tracks. “
Upwind after Zandvoort and upgrade for Monza
At the same time, Ferrari performed better than originally expected last weekend at Zandvoort. Charles Leclerc finished third and Carlos Sainz fought his way up from tenth on the grid to fifth. Ferrari also has a major upgrade up its sleeve for its home race in Monza in order to close the gap further.
“It’s all about the details,” says Team Principal Vasseur. “The fact that we are in better shape in short corners will help us. And if you are able to make a step of one or two tenths, then that is a decisive factor. “
“But we also know that everyone is improving. We know that we still had a big gap to Lando at Zandvoort, that we were quite far away. So we still have a lot of work ahead of us. And I will never go to Monza, Baku or wherever with the feeling that it will be easy. “
McLaren also expects stronger Ferraris
Nevertheless, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri also expects the red rivals to be stronger this weekend in Monza. “I think Ferrari will probably be a bit faster, and they have been very strong there in the past,” he says.
“On Sunday at Zandvoort they had a faster car than a lot of people expected. So I expect them to be a bit more in the fight.”
“The track has been resurfaced and some of the kerbs have been changed a lot. So I think it will be a bit of a learning curve for everyone, especially with the new tarmac, because some of the tarmac there was very old. But we should go into every weekend expecting to try and win. “
