Alonso says ninth the best result possible

© Ferrari

Fernando Alonso believes ninth place is the very best result Ferrari could have achieved in Malaysia and is a true representation of the teams pace.

The Spaniard will however start 8th following the demotion of Kimi Räikkönen by five places for a gearbox change on Saturday morning.

"We are not competitive," Alonso said. "We suffered a difficult qualifying so we did our lap in Q3 and knew it wasn’t possible to compete with the guys in front.

"Ninth is okay and with Kimi's penalty it becomes eighth, so at the end of the day it’s the best result possible."

Alonso starts four places ahead of his team-mate, Felipe Massa.

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