Question: Fernando, a winning start for the new relationship with Ferrari. Obviously passing Felipe at the start was key, but just tell us your emotions at the moment.
Fernando Alonso: A very special day for me as coming back to the top of the podium is always special but I think it is even more special with Ferrari with all the history behind the team and all the expectations a driver has when he drives for Ferrari. There is no better way to start the relationship. I am in the best team in the world. We have been working very hard all winter, the guys did a very good job in winter testing, so we arrive quite well prepared for this first grand prix. But we did nothing so far, we only won the first race but definitely to be first and second is the result that all the guys at Maranello and all the guys here at the track deserve this result as they have been working day and night to give us this fantastic car, so this first victory is dedicated to all the people in Italy, all the mechanics here, to President Montezemolo, to everybody who did a huge effort to have this car at the first race and this result is something very positive and very optimistic for the rest of the season.
Question: Fernando, what were you thinking in the middle part of the race when Vettel was controlling the pace? Were you being patient or could you have caught up with him?
Fernando Alonso: I did not know exactly. I had some pace in the pocket at that time of the race but I was concentrating on managing the tyres. We knew that we had to do 35 or 36 laps with the tyres. I was waiting the time to attack Vettel, maybe waiting for the last 10 or 12 laps. But suddenly he had a car problem and he was dropping and we had the chance to overtake him a little bit earlier than expected. I think he was very quick, especially with soft tyres at the beginning as I could not follow him at all, but with the hard tyre maybe we had a little bit more pace but difficult to know.
Question: Fernando, how important was today to throw down a marker not just to your rivals but also to your team-mate?
Fernando Alonso: I think it is not very important and I always repeat the same thing. The first three or four races of the championship are not, in my opinion crucial for anything. You just need to take some solid points for the team, to get used to the new regulations, to understand a little bit better the tyres, the races itself, so at the end it depends on how competitive your car is to you get more or less points. But from a driver point of view it is not a crucial part. It is nice to be here, first position, but to be honest this is thanks to a fantastic car we had. We have been a little bit better than the others in the first race, so we managed to finish first and second. But I think the key to being World Champion will be the development during the season. We have a very good base but we need to keep working. This is only the start. Happy. Again dedicated to the team but now it is time to push.
Question: Fernando, you have always been known as someone who never gives up easily, but today, would you have settled for second place if it had not been for Vettel’s problem?
Fernando Alonso: No. I was thinking of winning the race at that time. I knew that it was a very difficult thing to do: overtaking Vettel. I think that it was a very difficult thing to do but I was waiting for the opportunity. I knew that our car maybe manages the tyres in very good way, we saw that in the winter, so I was getting some relaxed laps behind and then maybe waiting for the last ten laps to attack, but then we were lucky with Vettel’s problem to overtake a little bit earlier and winning the race. We’ve been lucky; in all the victories you need some luck and this one was lucky as well.
Question: Fernando, what were you thinking on the last lap, what did you shout, what did you say inside the car?
Fernando Alonso: Many things. The last lap was very long, not only for the two minute lap but also because you try to bring the car home safely and you want to avoid all the kerbs, all the strange noises, everything, so it was a very long lap but nothing; I was thinking about the great job that the team have done so far. I was thinking about the mechanics this morning, everybody running in the garage to change the engine at the last moment. So all that stress and all those difficulties that the team had this morning are paid off now and I was thinking just to celebrate with them. There was also some good chat on the radio in Italian.
Question: Fernando, before the race, did you plan to try and overtake Felipe, or just sort it out in one moment?
Fernando Alonso: No, no plan. Obviously you want to overtake as many cars as possible at the start but you also need to defend yourself from the guys behind, so this is the decision that you take at the last moment, depending on how it goes in the first hundred meters at the start. You look in the mirror, you look where the other people are behind, where the people in front are and then you take the decision. I made a slight better start because I was on the clean side, so I was not… the first corner is always a new situation and you go there and you try to exit – especially the first race – you have to finish the race, you need to take some good points back home, so we try to be aggressive but controlling the situation at the same time.
Question: Fernando, how much pressure, if any, does it take off your shoulders, winning this first race with Ferrari?
Fernando Alonso: Not much, to be honest. There is always pressure at every race we go to, even every test we go to in Spain, there are 20,000 people who expect us to be P1 at the end of the day, so we live with pressure on our shoulders, so after this first win it’s good to enjoy time now with the mechanics, with the guys and then fly to Australia. But then I start from zero again in Australia. We can have a bad race at any time, if we make some little mistakes or we are not fully concentrated, so we need to take each Grand Prix like a new one, like the last one, so we need to do solid races now at the beginning of the championship and come back to Europe with some good points.
Question: Fernando, do you believe Felipe Massa is your biggest enemy for the championship, because the form of the Ferrari is so good?
Fernando Alonso: Well, first of all, he’s not an enemy, maybe a rival but not an enemy. Again, the eight drivers in the top four teams are contenders for the championship. Maybe this is only the first race, but we saw the potential of the Mercedes in free practice and Q1 as well. We saw the potential of the McLaren today, being on the podium. We saw the potential of Red Bull, that they were quicker than us in qualifying, and maybe a little bit quicker than us in the race as well. And of course, Felipe, with the same car – there will be races that one of us will win and some races that the other will win. The important thing is to score many more points for the team and hopefully both Ferrari drivers will be on the podium. But I think this will depend track to track well. Here in Bahrain, for whatever reason was a little bit better for us, maybe we go to Australia for the next race and Mercedes or McLaren or whoever are a little bit ahead of everybody, so we need to understand this and we need to prepare our car perfectly for each Grand Prix, in terms of set-up, in terms of developing a programme in the wind tunnel, engine-wise etc, so there is a package, that is a combination of many things that we need to get ready.
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