14 April,2011 08:06 AM IST | | PA Sport
Ferrari ace Alonso predicts a difficult weekend for team Fernando Alonso. PIC/ Getty Images
Fernando Alonso is not expecting to see an upturn in Ferrari's qualifying pace in China this weekend despite a mercy dash by several of the team's top brass to their Maranello headquarters after last Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix.
Team principal Stefano Domenicali and technical chief Aldo Costa and engineering boss Pat Fry all returned to Italy after the race in Sepang instead of travelling straight to Shanghai for this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix.
The Ferraris of Alonso and team-mate Felipe Massa were around a second slower than the pace-setting Red Bulls and McLarens in qualifying at the opening two rounds of the campaign ufffd a statistic that left the pair floundering in the pack come the races and without a podium finish to their credit.
"There's not much time to change cars so I expect difficult pace, a difficult weekend again. The race is long," he said after finishing sixth in Sepang, one place behind Massa.
"We arrive in China knowing that it will be difficult but we will have some opportunities if we do things right."
Having appeared to be Red Bull's nearest challenger in pre-season testing, Ferrari's dismal qualifying pace thus far has arguably been the biggest surprise of the campaign's opening weeks ufffd eclipsing even McLaren's upturn after turning in some woefully underwhelming testing times.
