Fernando Alonso has urged Ferrari to dig deeper if they are to take the fight to Red Bull and McLaren this season.


Fernando Alonso

Following a disappointing start to the new campaign in Australia 12 days ago when so much was expected of Ferrari after a positive pre-season, the team were again off the pace in practice for Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix.

Although Ferrari were experimenting with their set up, it is fair to say Alonso would not have expected to emerge from the two 90-minute sessions at Sepang over 1.7secs adrift of Mark Webber.

Alonso fears it will be "a difficult weekend," and is calling on all within the team to raise their game. "This morning we did a lot of work on the aero to understand what had not worked the way we had expected in Australia," said Alonso. "But even if we had been quick in Melbourne, there would still be work to do."