Alonso wants to surprise in Monaco

It was very exciting for me to race in Spain at the wheel of a Ferrari for the first time. To see so many red jackets and caps in the grandstands was fantastic and I think that this time, I felt the passion of the fans like never before at the Catalunya circuit. So, I was really happy to get to the podium, even if it wasn’t the top step, so that I could acknowledge and thank them all for their enthusiasm.

From a technical point of view, the F10 performed the way we had thought it would. The updates we brought delivered the performance level we had expected, but it’s also true that other teams made an even bigger step forward, at least in terms of how they performed on this type of track. I am convinced that this year, the hierarchy among the teams will usually change according to the characteristics of the track and the Barcelona one definitely did not suit us so well.

The Monaco Grand Prix is a unique event on the calendar. All of us drivers want to win on this track at some point or other and the teams and sponsors are also particularly keen on doing well at the most famous race in the world, partly because it takes place in a venue that is already very special. It definitely attracts even more media attention than usual, which means the weekend will be even more demanding than usual. Usually on this track there have been surprises on the technical front. In the past, we have seen cars run competitively here that have not done so elsewhere and so it is even harder to make any predictions. Maybe we could be the ones to spring the surprise, given that others are already writing us off or are saying they have the edge.

I have heard a lot about the problems with traffic. It’s true this was already a problem when we had twenty cars on track and now there are four more, but we must try and look at this situation as an extra challenge, both for us drivers, who will have to be even more careful when overtaking, but without losing too much time, both in qualifying and the race and for the engineers, who will have to work out just the right moment to send us out on track in qualifying.

From Fernando Alonso’s blog on www.ferrari.com