Fernando Alonso is not expecting a repeat of the Spanish Grand Prix at Silverstone next weekend.
Alonso's home race was something of a disaster for Ferrari as the car failed to get the new hard compound tyres up to temperature and finished a lap down despite leading the first 20 laps. A general lack of downforce compared to Red Bull and McLaren was partly to blame and saw Alonso qualify a second off Mark Webber's pole position time.
The British Grand Prix is held on another downforce-dependent circuit and will be the first time the hard compounds have been used since Spain. Nevertheless, Alonso is confident of a better result.
"At Silverstone, you need a lot of aerodynamic downforce and this is area where we are lagging behind," he told the Ferrari website. "We will have some new parts, but there's a step from that to saying we will have made up the difference…maybe!
"We must be realistic and accept that it's not possible that in less than two months - the time past since the Barcelona race - we have closed the gap that was seen at the Catalunya circuit. It wasn't a whole lap, because that was down to the way the race panned out, but it was definitely bigger than what we have seen in the last three races. We must continue to work on improving the car and then I am sure the win will come. When? I don't have a crystal ball to be able to give a definite answer."
Pirelli confirmed on Wednesday that it will bring hard and soft compound tyres to Silverstone after rumours that it might consider either a soft and medium combination or a medium and hard combination. The former would have been better for Ferrari while the latter could have been disastrous.
"Today, the team told me about Pirelli's tyre choices for the coming three races," Alonso added. "At the British Grand Prix, we will be running the soft and the hard, the same choice that featured in the early stages of the championship.
"Okay, for us that means one more challenge, namely being able to make all types of tyre work as well as possible. Anyway, the tyre choice is the same for everyone and there's no point discussing if the pair of compounds chosen is more suited to one team or another. It's up to the teams to adjust the cars to get the best out of the tyres both in terms of performance and life."
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