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Question: Fernando, some great battles with both these guys but your face suggests that you think you should have won today.
Fernando Alonso: I think it was a good day for us. The gap was very competitive here in Canada. We really had a good opportunity to win today. First I fight with Lewis. We overtook thanks to a fantastic pit stop from our guys in the pit lane and then we lost the position with some traffic and then we lost the position with traffic again with a Hispania in front in the last laps of the race with Jenson. In both of those cases we lost 10 points from 25 to 15 but we are still there in the championship. It was a great recovery from the team. We were, I think, 50 seconds behind McLaren in Turkey in P8 and we fight for the win here in Canada, so we are moving in the right direction and I think we are back in the fight.
Question: Fernando, you and Lewis have got quite a history. Tell us about what was going on in your mind when you were coming out side-by-side in the pit lane.
Fernando Alonso: Well, I think it was a very early part of the race, lap nine or something like that so there was still a long way to go. I think it was a better fight on lap 30 or something like that when we were approaching the second stop. We were really close and we had some good fight and l think it is a very good feeling for me to come back now in a position to win the race or be here on the podium after some disappointing races like Turkey.
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Formula 1: Pole Sitter Lewis Hamilton Wins Canadian Grand Prix
Formula 1: Canadian Grand Prix - Race Results
Question: Fernando, good to see you up there on the rostrum. Is this something that we can expect in the future or is this a one-off?
Fernando Alonso: I think we want to be World Champions, so hopefully we can be here more often.
Question: Have you taken a step forward this week?
Fernando Alonso: Definitely. In Turkey we were a little under-competitive there. We were too slow, just Q2 in Turkey and then in the race we were like 50 seconds behind the McLarens, so here we were fighting wheel to wheel, so it was definitely a step forward. The characteristics of the track seem to be OK for us as well, so we just took this opportunity to be on the podium, to be in front of Red Bull and fight for the win. So it’s definitely been a very positive weekend for us and I am looking forward because I think this result will be a big motivation for the team.
Question: Tell us what happened when you lost second place to Jenson?
Fernando Alonso: I think we had some people in front of us; it was a Virgin I think and a Hispania. We thought the Hispania was letting us go in turn six but he didn’t, he was just on a different racing line, so when he went back to the normal one we just had to brake and then he saw us a little bit late and we exited turn six very slowly; I exited turn six very slowly because of that and Jenson took the opportunity.
Question: And how were the tyres?
Fernando Alonso: I think the tyres were difficult for everybody. The soft tyres were difficult at the beginning with a heavy car, just eight or nine laps and then you lose a lot of performance, so we all stopped around that lap and then with the prime, as Jenson said, it was not easy either, you just needed to take care of the rear graining but as it sometimes happens, our car is very gentle on tyres, so for most of the race I was quite comfortable with the pace.
Question: Fernando, don’t you think that you compromised your win when you tried to pass Sebastien Buemi?
Fernando Alonso: I don’t think so. Again, I think it was lap nine or lap wherever, I think I did the fastest lap after that lap when Lewis stopped and Buemi stopped as well. And on the following lap I lost two and a half seconds overtaking another car. I exited the pits half a second behind Lewis. Without that traffic again, I was in front, so it was a race decided by small details, so I think we made a perfect race, the team did a perfect race with the strategy, with pit stops, very, very quick pit stop, especially the first one to overtake the McLaren, so overall I think we did our job today, finishing on the podium, something which maybe not too many people were thinking before arriving in Canada, that we would be on the podium at the end of the race. So we proved again that we’re strong and that there is a lot more to come in the second part of the championship. So we’re quite optimistic.
Question: Fernando, do you think that without the traffic problems you would have had the pace to fight with the McLarens, and secondly, your thoughts on the Valencia Grand Prix in front of your home crowd?
Fernando Alonso: I think everybody saw that we had the pace to win. We’ve been competitive all weekend and very competitive in the race – definitely. But traffic sometimes helped us a lot in the first races. I remember Australia; I started last after the incident in the first corner. Most of the cars were in traffic throughout the race and I was alone, so the traffic can sometimes help you and sometimes it hurts you. At the end of the championship, I think everything is balanced.
As for Valencia, obviously it’s the second home race for me after Barcelona, so I’m hoping to do well there, hoping to be on the podium. I’ve never been on the podium in Valencia, so it will be a nice feeling in front of the crowd.
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