Formula One: Alonso stays upbeat as Williams outpace Ferrari

Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso of Spain in the pits at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal on June 6, 2014 during the first practice session for the Canadian Formula One Grand Prix. -- PHOTO: AFP
Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso of Spain in the pits at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal on June 6, 2014 during the first practice session for the Canadian Formula One Grand Prix. -- PHOTO: AFP

MONTREAL, Canada (AFP) - Fernando Alonso did his best to shrug off Ferrari's disappointment on Saturday after he had been out-paced by Finn Valtteri Bottas of Williams in qualifying for Sunday's Canadian Grand Prix.

The 32-year-old Spaniard admitted both Williams and Red Bull had done a better job after he qualified only seventh and Ferrari team-mate Finn Kimi Raikkonen was down in 10th.

"Red Bull and Williams have been better than us here and tomorrow is going to be tough, but we need to try and overtake them because we need those points," said Alonso.

The two-time champion added that the team had made some progress since last month's Monaco Grand Prix, but said that not all of their revised packages for their car had worked well.

"We made progress compared to the last race, but with some of the package and some of the new pieces we brought here, with the hot temperatures, we need to come back to the old ones - because they run too hot so we lost a bit of the advantage we expected."

Bottas, who qualified fourth for Williams, said: "We need to be happy with the second row - tomorrow is going to be interesting. I know we have good race pace, unlike last year, so it looks good.

"On my last run, in Q3, with the second set of tyres, I was compromised with a slow out lap due to traffic, but it was ok. I think do have really good straight-line speed.

"We have to have a good start and good strategy. If we can keep both cars in the race, we can get good points. We need to aim for perfection in every single area tomorrow." His Williams team-mate Brazilian Felipe Massa was disappointed.

"I expected third," he said. "I think it was not a perfect lap and when you see the difference between third and sixth, it was so close. So definitely I missed some hundredths and I am third."

Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.