Question: Fernando, a brilliant podium, a great strategic race and a fabulous battle with Sebastian. It looked like a lot of fun.
Fernando Alonso: Yeah, first of all, congratulations to Sebastian. World Champion in this race. It was a fun race. From the start we didn’t overtake any car but then the strategy was quite important, with a lot of tyre
Question: Fernando, among the euphoria of the winner and the new World Champion, that was a great race for Ferrari as well? Fernando Alonso: Yeah, I think it is a good race, a good weekend in general for us. Trouble-free in practice and then a good qualifying performance, fourth and fifth, so in the top five and both Ferraris in front of Webber, so in general quite competitive here, the car. At the end, with a perfect race, good start, good strategy, good pit-stops, and a good pace throughout the race second feels much, much better than expected probably before the start at three o’clock. It is a good result and gives us some extra motivation for the remaining races knowing that it is going to be tough as the updates on the car will be minimal but in some races, some circuits, we are still competitive, so why not fight for victory in one of the remaining races.
Click Here to Read More Formula 1: Sebastian Vettel Grabs World Championship Despite Jenson Button’s Victory Formula 1: Japanese Grand Prix - Race Results Question: And what about those last few laps with Sebastian right behind you and Jenson just ahead? Fernando Alonso: First, with Sebastian it was difficult to keep him behind as at that part of the race he was quicker than us. I tried to defend the position in braking for the last corners and into the first corner as well, where the DRS was active. After we had done this job we saw we were catching a little bit Jenson, so we tried in the last couple of laps but, as we saw later on, Jenson was taking care about tyres, about his car, so it was impossible to fight for victory this time. Also, we start fifth, so when you start fifth you have to recover always all through the race and you arrive two seconds behind the leader. If you start second or third that gap is already done maybe 10 laps before the end. Question: Fernando, now Seb is the youngest two time World Champion; you’ve lost that title. What does it mean to you now? Fernando Alonso: Really nothing special. I think now we will see who is the youngest three time World Champion. Question: Fernando, during the race, in the car, did you really believe you could win, and is it really possible to finish second in the championship? Fernando Alonso: In the race, I never thought about victory, if I’m completely honest with you. I only had a small possibility, maybe five or six laps from the end, when Jenson was dropping back a little bit and we closed the gap. Then I thought maybe if we were close enough maybe two laps or one lap from the end I could use the DRS and maybe have a chance, but I knew that it was difficult, but during the race, no, no time to think. And second place in the championship. It’s nice to be second, better than fourth or fifth, but as I said on Thursday, I prefer a win and finish fifth in the championship than finish in second not winning one of the remaining races. Hopefully we can do one of those two things, either second or win a race but probably it will be difficult to win a race and will be difficult to be second so that’s the worst combination, but it’s very possible as well.
Formula 1 Standings Ahead of Japanese Grand Prix
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