Question: Fernando, as the team told you at the end you have indeed been very quick this weekend. Frustration though for much of the race and you said on the team radio at one stage ‘this is ridiculous’ but in the end it ended very well for you.
Fernando Alonso: Yeah, I think it was a good weekend overall. We did improve the car a lot and immediately from Friday we felt very competitive. The car behaved very well and all the set-up adjustments worked really well here in Hockenheim. We know that some circuits will be better, some circuits will be worse. In the race as well we were competitive. We performed really well. Some parts of the race we were fighting very close for first position and it was a little bit dangerous but in the end I think it was a little bit more space between all the cars and we finished the laps with no more risky manoeuvres.
Question: It certainly wasn’t a risky manoeuvre when you managed to get past Felipe. It looked rather easy from where we were watching.
Fernando Alonso: Well, I think I don’t know what happened, but at the exit of turn six I saw Felipe a little bit slow and tried to overtake. You have to take every opportunity you have as it is a very difficult circuit to overtake and you only have one chance into turn six. I was never close enough to do an attempt, so at that point I overtook the other car and then it was 15 or 20 laps to the end. Some more cars to lap. That was some risk at some times as it is a very narrow circuit, especially the last sector, so it was not an easy race but very interesting.
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Formula 1: Fernando Alonso Takes Controversial Win at German Grand Prix
Formula 1: German Grand Prix - Race Results
Question: We heard in Australia this year you saying to the team ‘look I am faster than Felipe, let me pass him’. At any stage were you saying that this afternoon?
Fernando Alonso: Well, I think sometimes you are quick, sometime you are slow depending on what stage the tyres are. Sometimes you have a little bit of graining and sometimes you have some other problems. In some parts of the race maybe I was quicker than him. Some other parts of the race Felipe was very quick and pulling away from Sebastian and me, so it is very difficult to judge but it is a very strong result for the team. Top three in qualifying and top two in the race and the best thing as well is that the car keeps improving. It is not a result down to the weather conditions or to anything like that. It is a good performance from the team and hopefully next week in Hungary we can do a good weekend as well and score some strong points for the team.
Question: Fernando, you needed a win before the summer break to re-ignite your championship challenge. Do you feel you have done that this weekend? You are back in business?
Fernando Alonso: I think apart from the win the most important thing is to feel confident with the car again, to feel that we are going in the right direction in terms of developing the car. The new parts on the car we introduced in the last couple of races seemed to work really well, so despite the win the better news for us in the last two or three races is that we are competitive. There were some grands prix that we were not quick enough to fight for pole positions, for wins, for podiums and we had to be conservative and now I think we can push a bit more, be more aggressive and try to score points. There is one race in one week. We did nothing today. I think we cannot go too low when the things were not very good for us and we need to be very calm after this strong result. We are happy, but we did nothing. This is the first step.
Question: Fernando, your feelings of a Ferrari one-two. I think it is a certain amount of frustration over the last few races but now you have finally done it.
Fernando Alonso: Yeah, I think we deserved this result for the team. No points for Felipe and me in Valencia and Silverstone with a competitive car for different reasons and very bad luck. We came back here with some upgrades in the car and with some new parts and they seemed to work really well. From Friday morning we felt competitive. We felt happy with the car, so we just were concentrating on finishing and doing a good Sunday with no mistakes and no problems and everything went fine. To win a race is always special, but to win a race for Ferrari is even more special. Two races we did well this year we were first and second, so this is a very strong result for the team. We just need to continue like this. I think we are going to go down when we have some disappointing races and we cannot be too excited after a strong result. This is a very long championship and we need to remain very focused for 10 months. Today is very important for the team, for the motivation of all the guys and especially for the technical people that keep working day and night to improve the car and this result is thanks to them. This is a good motivation for everybody in Maranello as well but as I said in four days we are in Hungary, so there is no time to really be too excited.
Question: How important is this win here but do you feel the car will be similarly suited to the Hungaroring?
Fernando Alonso: I think so. I don’t see any reason to be pessimistic for Hungary. The car was competitive in Valencia and Silverstone, more competitive here, so in eight days hopefully the picture doesn’t change so much, very strong competition with Red Bull and McLaren, but at least we are in the fight. There were some races this year when we were very close to Renault, to Mercedes and very far away from Red Bull and McLaren. Now I think we feel strong enough to fight with them for important points, so hopefully we can do a good weekend again in Hungary.
Question: Tell us about the start as you were a bit worried about being on the dirty side. There was a certain amount of pressure from Sebastian.
Fernando Alonso: The start was very good. We felt good grip already in the formation lap and then in the start itself it was okay. I felt I had a better start than Sebastian who lost a little bit of ground in the first metres. Then I was very close to the wall. Unfortunately I think this battle we lost a couple of metres close to the wall and we lost one position both to Felipe who started very good in third, so we arrived at the first corner quite close but enough to overtake Sebastian, so it was a super start, I think.
Question: Alonso, in a normal race, do you think you could have overtaken Massa?
Fernando Alonso: Yeah, I think there was one moment also on (I don’t know) which lap it was but we were side-by-side into turn six, especially with the people we were lapping - always there is a better chance to overtake and even though we didn’t see too many overtakings here today we’ve seen a lot in the past on this circuit but this year maybe with the new cars etc we didn’t see too many.
Question: Fernando, you said after Valencia that the race had been manipulated in favour of Lewis. Those words seem a bit hollow now. Where will this victory rank in your career, is it up there with Singapore 2008?
Fernando Alonso: I think you have a very strong result from Ferrari today, one and two, a very strong performance all weekend and if the final thought of the weekend is your question it’s because maybe you didn’t see the whole practice, qualifying and the race, so maybe it’s too early for you that Ferrari came back so strong.
Question: Team orders are banned in Formula One. They were banned in 2002, that was blatant team orders.
Fernando Alonso: Sure.
Question: Eddie Jordan just said that you two should be kicked out of the race.
Fernando Alonso: Again, if this is the final thought of the weekend for you, I think it is because you didn’t see the performance of the team and the performance from our car this weekend.
Question: Fernando, I think we all know what happened on lap 48 and we don’t need any fairy tales about tyres or anything to be clear of that. I just want to ask you, because in 2006 in Monza you said that Formula One is not a sport any more for you but was that which we saw today a sport?
Fernando Alonso: I think we tried to do our race, we tried to do as good as we can. We are professional drivers, we try to work in a team and we try to do the best we can every day, not only here on the track but also between the races, at the factory etc, preparing the races. Again, I think we’ve been doing a good job over the last couple of races and finally we got a strong Sunday with a strong result. I think we are happy with this, although there are things which are more for you if you want to write all these things.
Question: Fernando, do you feel that some people are worrying because you are back in the championship?
Fernando Alonso: Maybe it seems like this, yes.
Question: Fernando, what have you got to say to the people who would call this a dirty win and if you win the championship, a dirty champion?
Fernando Alonso: I have 19 races to… look at the overall races, there are a lot of points that we win sometimes and a lot of points that we lose sometimes. As I said, today was a good day, some other races were bad days for us, disappointing but as I said before, we need to remain focused, keep working, keep developing the car, not to be too excited when we win, not to be too down when we lose. In November, (we need to) try to be in the fight for the championship, not forgetting that Red Bull has so far been very dominant, not scoring many points on Sunday, or the points that they should have scored on Sunday, but remain very strong and McLaren as well, leading both championships, so there is still a long way to go for us.
Question: Fernando you’re getting quite a bit of flak but as you say, you’ve been the quicker Ferrari driver for most of the weekend. We see it so often that the guy who is second on the grid gets beaten away by the guy who is third. Is there ever a case for actually asking to reverse the positions on the grid?
Fernando Alonso: I think there are some circuits where the clean side is an advantage. There are some circuits where it is not an advantage, for example in Hungary next weekend, it will be crucial to be on the clean side. There are other circuits like that. There’s nothing we can do. We have a fifty percent chance of being on the clean or dirty side of the grid, unless you are the quickest which secures the clean side. The only thing we can do is to fight for pole position which allows you to be on the clean side. If not, I don’t see any other possibility. Maybe there should be more distance. Instead of eight meters, maybe 12 or whatever.
Question:Take today, if you’d been able to opt to start third instead of second and actually swap places, would you have done it?
Fernando Alonso: Maybe I would have done a bad start, you never know. I think it was a good start today, overtaking Sebastian and that was our target today. You never know.
Question: To both Fernando and Felipe, we always talk about the show, the necessity of the show in Formula One. Can you conceive that race lovers and show lovers might be a bit frustrated today?
Fernando Alonso: Well, I think we try to put on a good show always for people, for spectators but as Felipe or Sebastian said, we work for companies, we work for teams. Sometimes, as we saw this year, there are crashes between team-mates and the loss of 42 points for the team. Today Ferrari has 42 in their pocket, so I think it’s what we are here for.
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