Question: Fernando, the first win of the season for you and Ferrari. You were gifted the lead by Red Bull but do you feel you forced the mistake today?
Fernando Alonso: Well I don’t know. It is difficult to know. I saw the problem in the pit-stop with Sebastian and we were in the lead at that moment. I didn’t know as I was also fighting with (Lewis) Hamilton and with Mark and I left the pits and I found myself leading the race and then pulling a good gap. You never know. The race was in different conditions. We started with a very wet part of the circuit and then it was a little bit dry, but still with intermediate tyres. Then the intermediates were struggling a little and we were very quick at that part of the race and then with the dry tyres it was again the same thing. Very slow at the beginning when the track was damp and very quick when the track was dry so I knew that it was a race to be calm, to put the car on the track always, no mistakes, not being off the track at any moment as the grass is very wet and with no mistakes I knew the car had enough pace to fight for the victory. At the end it came.
Question: It was a great battle with Hamilton. Tell us about the pass and the re-pass.
Fernando Alonso: Well he overtook me quite easy. When we fitted the dry tyres he was very, very quick at that part of the race so we were forced to stay calm. We knew that our opportunity would be later in the race and when I overtook him again it was thanks to the DRS and the KERS and all these possibilities we have these days. Then we attacked the Red Bulls as from now it will always be the same thing. Every race we try to do like the final. Championship hopes are very difficult because Sebastian keeps finishing all the races first and second so the only thing we can do is try to win every race we go to and be very aggressive. Every race, every start, every strategy will be at the maximum.
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Formula 1: Fernando Alonso Ends Drought, Wins British Grand Prix
Formula 1: British Grand Prix - Race Results
Question: Fernando, describe both the emotion and the satisfaction this win gives you today.
Fernando Alonso: It is a very special win. I think Silverstone is a special event for every driver competing in Formula One. We know the history of motorsport here in the UK so it is special grand prix. Also today I had the privilege to drive the Jose (Froilan Gonzalez’s) car. It was the first Ferrari win in Formula One and this year it is 60 years ago that one Ferrari car won the first grand prix in Formula One. Today we won on the same circuit with the same passion, with the same group of people, working for this fantastic team. Every year competing in Formula One right from the beginning so this is the big thing about Ferrari. The passion, the victory and the love for competition so very happy to drive this car and achieve this success again.
Question: Fernando, what a way to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Ferrari’s first win. Ideal way wasn’t it?
Fernando Alonso: Definitely. I had two laps today with that car for the parade and it is part of the history of Ferrari. Being every single year, every single championship in Formula One, winning 60 years ago with that car with Froilan and now 60 years later on the same circuit with the same atmosphere I am sure in the team, with the same passion winning again with the red car. Very proud of the team. Very proud of the recovery that we did. I think three or four races ago we were 1.5 seconds behind and now we were leading the race and pulling away so definitely a good recovery from the team and a very special day. Every grand prix is special but winning in historic places on this fantastic circuit, Silverstone, with the tradition in England about Formula One, the culture about motorsport, it is even more special.
Question: Do you think you would have won without the pit-stop problem for Sebastian? After all you did set a succession of fastest laps in the middle of the race and you ended the race with a lead of 20 seconds.
Fernando Alonso: Who knows? You never know. I think it is difficult to have any prediction of what could have happened without the problems of Sebastian. For sure more difficult and you need to overtake on the track and when you are talking about two or three-tenths different pace in favour of them or us it is not easy to overtake as we saw with the McLaren and for Sebastian it was the same when he tried to overtake Lewis. It is not easy to overtake so the pit-stop problems for them was a help. But the same every race. Maybe in Canada it was a different thing also for Jenson. He won the race and we retired. The races are the way it comes.
Question: You said earlier in the weekend this wasn’t a circuit that you expected to suit the Ferrari. What can we expect from the NŸrburgring?
Fernando Alonso: Well it is a huge boost for us. Good confidence being quick here in Silverstone as no doubts it was a race on the calendar that had one red cross. We knew that it was not an easy grand prix for us in terms of the characteristics of the corners, the lay-out never being our strongest point, the high speed corners in the last two or three years so we knew that Silverstone like Barcelona, was difficult for us so winning here is good motivation for everyone and good confidence I am sure approaching the next races as they will be circuits that are a little bit better for us.
Question: You can put a red tick against it now instead of a cross.
Fernando Alonso: We will try to enjoy the moment, the win, and work hard. We will have the same approach that we had in Valencia, that we had in Canada, and here as well every weekend. It is a weekend to try for the victory, try to win the race. There is not championship thoughts at the moment with anyone in the team as we know that the gap is massive at the moment with Sebastian. We just need to enjoy every weekend. Try to win every weekend and be aggressive at the start, the pit-stops, there is no time to think about any other thing.
Question: Fernando, you’ve been saying for quite a while that you thought Silverstone was going to be a turning point for Ferrari. What did you know that the rest of us didn’t and how personally important is it for you to get your first win this season under your belt?
Fernando Alonso: Well, what I’ve been saying over the last couple of races is that for sure the team has been improving a lot - there was one part of the championship in which we put new parts on the car and they were not quicker so the wind tunnel was not telling us the truth, so we lost a little bit of ground there in the first couple of races with upgrades on the car. Then it seems in the last three or four races every new part on the car is working fine, so they are steps forward for us and very good news, not just for this year but also for next year’s development. We are very happy with this and it seems that here we brought quite a big aero update and everything is working fine. Both Felipe and me feel much happier with the car. It’s something that in the last three or four races we were feeling and I was saying. Victory here is very special. As I said, I think here in England motor sport is very big. People understand this sport, people love motor racing. There are hundreds of different categories here, classic cars, different things that only happen here in England, because they love motor sport. So winning here, in front of these people, is great from a driver’s point of view, and Silverstone, with all the historic races we’ve had here and the good fights for many big names that have raced here.
Question: Fernando, apropos what you’ve just said, it was a really thrilling experience for everyone here to see you push that old Ferrari right to the limit and I want to thank you very much for that. I would like to ask, if you would have been 60 years older, do you think you would have wanted to race a rather primitive old car like that as much as you enjoy racing your modern Ferrari?
Fernando Alonso: Yeah, yeah, I think I still love motor sport, I still love cars. I also had the privilege to be with John Surtees last week in Maranello with his car as well, sitting in that car. I think it was obviously a different sport, much more dangerous. The level of power and grip is totally different now. When I drove those cars, there is a huge amount of power for the grip that you have. We are talking about 450-500bhp on a tyre that is this (indicates small amount) wide. I think every car, or every steering wheel that you have in your hands - it doesn’t matter if it’s from 60 years or 30 years ago, it doesn’t matter if it’s more dangerous or less dangerous - you don’t feel that. You just want to drive and to be flat out and enjoy driving. I perfectly understand the adrenaline, the emotion of that time and I’m sure that it’s very similar to what we feel now. We are lucky now that safety has improved a lot.
Question: How much do you think the change to the off-throttle regulations this weekend played a role in global performance of your own cars?
Fernando Alonso: For me, nothing. I don’t think it’s a big factor. We saw one McLaren fighting for the podium until the last moment. We saw Red Bull, Ferrari for the other positions on the podium and, as we saw 15 days ago in Valencia, I was second. I didn’t see any Force India or any Sauber or anything fighting for victory because the rules changed. It was more or less the same.
Question: Fernando, where would you place the Ferrari now in terms of fast and slow speed performance, perhaps relative to Red Bull or indeed relative to where you were four races ago?
Fernando Alonso: Obviously it’s difficult to say. We need to analyse the race a little bit better - sectors etc - but I think we were between one and 1.5s behind Red Bull, especially in qualifying four races ago. In Barcelona, I think I was 1.2s and Felipe 1.6s or something like that, so the average was there and here, with similar characteristics, high-speed corners, exactly the same tyres, the soft and the hard, we were much closer so definitely an improvement. Here, for whatever reason, we were quick in sector two all weekend which is the high-speed sector, so maybe that means we have recovered a lot in that part and now we need to concentrate a little bit more on our strongest point that it was the slow speed corners where we need to make improvements.
Question: Fernando, if Hamilton didn’t keep behind Sebastian and Mark, your race would be different and in a normal race, if you had to use the hard tyres, how would your Ferrari react?
Fernando Alonso: Yes, that’s a good point. After the first couple of laps with the intermediates, we didn’t need to use the hard tyres any more so we chose to do the whole dry race with the best performing tyre, which was the soft on this occasion, so there’s a question mark how the car would have performed with the hard tyre. In FP3 and Q1, we were very, very competitive with the hard, so we approached the race with no problems and no doubts as we had in Barcelona. There was a big problem but here we were convinced that we were OK with hard tyres but obviously it was just a thought. And without Hamilton keeping Sebastian behind, obviously the race was a little bit different, for sure. We had to push more to open the gap. With Lewis there, the race was a little bit more comfortable for us and we could drop the revs a little bit and take a bit more care of the engine, the tyres and things like that.
Question: Fernando, one year ago, you were in the middle of the team order crisis; are you enjoying now the fact that politics are involving Red Bull?
Fernando Alonso: I’m not happy with any politics, not to me and not to Red Bull. I don’t think there are polemics. What you try to ask here to them, they answer very well, so there are no polemics but I’m sure tomorrow you will write something.
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