Fernando Alonso insists he takes no joy in seeing former team Ferrari struggling to match the lofty expectations of president Sergio Marchionne and threaten Mercedes for poles and victories.
Alonso left Ferrari for McLaren in 2015, a move which coincided with a big improvement for the Italian outfit as it claimed three victories through his replacement Sebastian Vettel. During that same season Alonso and McLaren struggled with Honda power and were consistently at the rear end of the pack with an uncompetitive and unreliable power unit.
This season Ferrari hoped to make the next step and legitimately challenge Mercedes over 21 races but a series of missteps and strategic blunders have hampered its start to the season. Alonso says he has a special place for Ferrari in his heart due to his five years driving there between 2010 and 2014 and hates seeing the team not at the front of the grid.
When asked if he took any satisfaction in seeing his team fail to take the fight to Mercedes, he replied: "No, not really. I don't have any satisfaction when Ferrari is not doing well.
"I hope always the best for them and they will always be in my heart because I had a fantastic five years. What is the truth now and is a fact is Mercedes is dominating Formula One for a couple of years already. I hope the best for Ferrari but they are struggling a bit now, hopefully they can recover."
Alonso was speaking after Ferrari only managed to place both cars on the third row of the grid for the Spanish Grand Prix. Mercedes boss Toto Wolff was not convinced Ferrari's lack of pace in was genuine, suggesting the Italian outfit "must have done something wrong" to have both qualify behind Red Bull. Sebastian Vettel refused to accept the gap to Mercedes has grown, saying "it was more us not performing than Mercedes or Red Bull being better."