Fernando Alonso – 4th

Alonso got the maximum performance out of a car which was unable to compete with the Red Bulls and McLarens, however a three stop pit strategy cost him a podium position. He was chasing down Petrov in the closing stages of the racing, having fresher tyres than the Russian, but just ran out of time. We may see that scenario a few times this year, were a car with fresh tyres is chasing down a car which has made fewer stops.

Felipe Massa – 7th

Massa got off to a good start, but it was immediately clear that he did not have the same performance as the other front running cars. Massa struggled with high degradation of his tyres so Ferrari will need to analyze this. Tyre management is crucial this season and you will be on the back foot if you use up your tyres quicker than your competitors.

The Team

A lot of work to do for Ferrari if they want to win races this year, they weren’t close to the front running Red Bull and McLaren this weekend. It will be interesting to know if the Ferrari was even capable of the two stop strategy, if the car uses its tyres quicker than other cars then it doesn’t bode well for the future. Still too early to tell if this is the case though.