Japanese GP: Post Race Interview With Fernando Alonso

Japanese GP: Post Race Interview With Fernando Alonso

Japanese GP: Post Race Interview With Fernando Alonso

Ferrari


Question: Fernando, great drive for you. Fourth on the grid and third in the race. It looked pretty lonely for you at times but at the end you got very close to Mark.

Fernando Alonso: Well, obviously it was a tough race. The start was not particularly good. I didn’t make a good start. Robert did a fantastic start, on the clean side as well, so as Mark said, lucky when Robert retired as he was a tough rival, especially with the top speed of the Renault this weekend. Then I was more or less alone the whole race, no pressure from behind and impossible to catch Red Bull in the first part of the race. In the second part I think they managed the gap to Button a little bit. They were playing a little bit with that gap and I was able to run close to them but never close enough to put pressure. But anyway we knew that before coming here, third place was maybe our maximum position here. But we are convinced that this was the worst track for us for the remaining circuits of the championship, so it was a good weekend overall.

Question: A few races ago you said that you needed a podium in the remaining five races of the year to have a real shot at the title. A podium this weekend but a decreased advantage in terms of yourself for the championship battle. Do you still think podiums are enough or is it going to have to be wins?

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Fernando Alonso: I still think that podiums will be enough.

Question: Fernando, damage limitation today, to some extent, but you got very close to Mark at the end.

Fernando Alonso: Yeah, I think we have to be very happy with the result, 15 points. The leader of the championship got 18 points, so we only lost three points on a circuit that was not the best for us.

Performance-wise, not at our best level. We saw we were struggling today: in Q1 we were P7, we saw problems also for Felipe in Q2, so it was maybe not an ideal weekend in terms of pace and we lost three points in the championship, but overall we have to be extremely happy.

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