Ferrari play down slow pit stop

Ferrari have played down the impact that their last pit stop for Fernando Alonso had any impact on the result of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

With Hamilton already coming in for the medium Pirelli compound tyre, Ferrari kept Alonso out on track for two laps longer on the softer tyre.

The hope was that Alonso could close the gap on the faster tyre and take the lead of the race for the final stage of the Grand Prix.

However Alonso got stuck behind Ricciardo coming into the pits and then the Ferrari team lost a couple of seconds on the stop itself.

The result was Hamilton re-gaining the lead and from that point on the McLaren driver controlled the race to take the win.

'We had a little issue on the pitstop but that was not the real issue - and on that, you cannot say anything. It was unfortunate.

'But, for sure, to have the last two corners behind the last car [HRT's Daniel Ricciardo] that was coming in on the same lap was really unfortunate. Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali told Autosport Magazine.

However Domenicali stopped short of blaming the incident on why they didn't take the win, instead he praised Hamilton.

He concluded: 'the difference was made by Lewis when he had two very quick laps with the medium tyres straight away. He was able to pull out the gap and then, of course, he managed the situation.'

Fernando Alonso agreed with his team principle adding: 'I lost a couple of seconds at the second one [pit-stop], what with traffic on my in-lap and a problem changing the front left wheel, but I don't think that's where we lost the race, because I am convinced that, in the end, it's the quickest car that wins and so it was.