Fernando Alonso thanked team mate Jenson Button for giving him a tow which helped him get into the top ten in qualifying.
The McLaren driver reached Q3 by 57 thousandths of a second and said getting a slipstream from his team mate in Q2 made the difference.
“Definitely we know the tow here is [worth] one tenth and a half, two tenths, and we saw in the free practice and qualifying one that two tenths is even five places here,” he told Sky.
“I took a good tow in the last run and that was enough to go into Q3, so thanks to him.”
Alonso endured a frustrating race in Canada last year, arguing with his team on the radio about the amount of fuel-saving he had to do. However he said Honda’s latest power unit upgrade should bring greater benefits in Sunday’s race.
“I think our package is more competitive and on the slower circuits than Canada so I think these long straights and big accelerations are not welcome for the power unit we have right now.”
“It’s, as I said, a nice surprise to be competitive but there will be some races that we should be even more so. It’s a good sign of where we are going and the direction the car is taking. New turbo, more harvesting so tomorrow should be a benefit in the race. It’s not so much in qualifying but in the race you can spend a bit more time with deployment.”
“I think everything is more sensible now than 12 months ago so let’s keep going like that.”
AntoineDeParis (@antoine-de-paris)
11th June 2016, 20:56
So Jenson is the new Massa officially.
David BR
11th June 2016, 23:40
Though apparently more use.
Nick (@nick101)
12th June 2016, 5:34
Not really.
I never saw Massa beat Alonso over the course of a season, did you?
bogaaaa (@nosehair)
12th June 2016, 8:59
Mutton is in F1 for the money like kimi..over paid has beens..
Nick (@nick101)
12th June 2016, 12:29
Overpaid has been…? Hmmm…
Let’s see – last year he was paid less than 1/4 of what Alonso was paid and he beat him.
You know, Alonso, one of the ‘top 3’ drivers on the grid. The other two are apparently Hamilton and Vettel.
As far as I recall Vettel is the only one of these ‘top 3’ that Button hasn’t beaten as a team mate.
Who was it you were saying was an overpaid has been???
Henry
12th June 2016, 16:18
You are not presenting all the facts Nick in making your claim about Button beating Alonso.
If you want to overlook the fact Alonso had more 2 more DNFs and did not start another race, then Button did indeed outpoint him.
But I think any unbiased fan will admit it does have to be taken into account. Although Jenson is an excellent driver, he is not as talented as Alonso.
Is Button also better than Hamilton because he outpointed him over a 3 year stretch? I think not.
Check out the link below.
http://grandprixrankings.com/compare/2015-f1/alonso-versus-button/
bogaaaa (@nosehair)
12th June 2016, 20:45
MUTTON is overpaid and over rated..
Kringle
11th June 2016, 21:35
Hmm, theoretical question for you all. So with two tenths a lap gained by towing could he and button stick together throughout the race and alternate the towing. Meaning over 60 laps they would both be 12 seconds up?
EF1
12th June 2016, 1:25
No because 2 tenths per lap isn’t enough to just charge past down the back straight, so if they were swapping positions constantly to alternate slipstream they would be losing more time lifting to let the overtaking one through than they would gain from the tow. Can do it over 1 lap where the cars don’t need to swap positions, not over a race unless they were on a track like Indy full oval.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
12th June 2016, 1:33
Following another car is only good for the tow, which means 2 tenths in a straight, but you lose time everywhere else because of the turbulent air. Plus the heat of the car ahead isn’t good either, and you eat your tyres tyring to follow him at the same speed to swap places.
There’s a reason why it’s never done, appart from qualy, where a good syncronized swap can show it’s benefits to one driver, but only on a straight.
Traverse
11th June 2016, 22:19
Fernando has some nice pearly whites, it must be the Sensodyne Rapid…
Also, why did Alonso steal Richard Mille’s top?
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
12th June 2016, 1:51
Yet again Honda seems not be dragging the McLaren down. True that Honda brought and upgrade yet, on pace and pace alone the McLaren Honda have been very good on power tracks such as Russia and Montreal.
PMccarthy_is_a_legend (@pmccarthy_is_a_legend)
12th June 2016, 16:41
Nevermind what Alonso is saying. The question here is: where do I get those shades???
Solo (@solo)
24th July 2016, 17:52
That picture really was gold along with the article.