Spain’s Fernando Alonso says he will take a “calm” approach to the inaugural Korean Grand Prix after qualifying third at the new Yeongam circuit yesterday.
The Ferrari driver is second in the World Championship, 14 points behind leader Mark Webber of Red Bull Racing, and says that finishing the 55-lap race is the priority with just three grands prix remaining in the 19-round season.
With 25 points on offer for a win, Alonso said a non-finish could end his chances of a third world title.
“We cannot be one of those who does not finish,” the Spaniard said.
“We need to keep scoring points in every race, and I am sure we will be very happy with that.
“We need to be calm and finish the race.”
Alonso will start today’s race from the cleaner side of the grid, and while he will be looking to pass Webber off the line, the Spaniard realises that he needs to be cautious.
“We must get a good start without taking too many risks at the first corner because in the race anything could happen and the most important thing will be to get to the chequered flag,” he said.
“There are a couple of places (on the circuit) where overtaking seems possible, but we will have to wait to see if that is really the case.”
Alonso held provisional pole late in yesterday’s qualifying session before being edged out by Vettel and Webber on the final laps by the Red Bull duo.
“We expected Red Bull to be very strong. It’s not by chance they have taken 14 poles from 17 attempts,” Alonso said.
“The gap is pretty close, which shows that tomorrow (today) we can be in the fight. Third is our maximum potential in qualifying, which in a way is very good news because qualifying is not our strongest point.”
Alonso is the form driver on the Formula One grid after scoring 65 points over the past three races, but Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali believes that a single mechanical failure today could end the Spaniard’s title hopes.
“If we will have any reliability issues, then it will be really traumatic,” Domenicali said.
“It would be almost impossible then to recover points we need to if we want to fight with Red Bull and McLaren as they are extremely strong.
“We cannot really have any problems, otherwise it (the championship) is finished.”