Alonso and Ferrari pass fuel test
Fernando Alonso and Ferrari passed a mandatory test of one litre of fuel in the aftermath of Sunday's German Grand Prix in which the Spaniard failed to complete the slowing down lap.
- Agence France-Presse
- Updated: July 25, 2011 03:23 PM IST
Fernando Alonso and Ferrari passed a mandatory test of one litre of fuel in the aftermath of Sunday's German Grand Prix in which the Spaniard failed to complete the slowing down lap.
Alonso finished second behind Lewis Hamilton of McLaren but had to pull up and park his car due to fuel problems. He hitched a lift back to the pits with rival Australian Mark Webber, sitting on his Red Bull car.
It was widely expected that the sport's ruling body the International Motoring Federation (FIA) might struggle to find a litre of fuel remaining to test - but they did and no further action was taken.
Ferrari team chief Stefanco Domenicali said: "They did the fuel sample - as after the race there had to be one litre of fuel. It is all done. So nothing has happened. It was just a precaution."
He declined to explain how it was that Alonso did not have enough fuel to complete the slowing down lap.
In a separate statement, the FIA said Webber would not face any sanctions for stopping on the return to the pits to pick Alonso up - even though it could have been viewed as a breach of the rule requiring cars to proceed directly to parc ferme.
Alonso, who was second at the European Grand Prix and then won the British race before finishing second on Sunday, was satisfied with his result.
"I am extremely happy - we had a weekend that probably was not the easiest one. We struggled a bit on Friday, in qualifying we were fourth, half a second from pole so no doubts that we struggled a bit more with the weekend.
"But even with the difficulties we are second and fighting for victory, so this is a fantastic achievement. Second in Valencia, first at Silverstone and second here. It is good.
"And we can do better next weekend in Hungary. I am looking forward to a bit more temperature on the track. The soft and super soft tyre should be an advantage for us in terms of how we take on the tyres.
"In a week, we will have a very interesting weekend again. McLaren did a step forward, and Red Bull will be extremely strong, so it is challenging for us."
Alonso is now 86 points behind championship leader Sebastian Vettel, who finished in fourth for Red Bull.