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Formula 1
F1: Alonso Emotional After Home Win
Ferrari driver pleased with win but not optimistic about championship...
Fernando Alonso delighted the home crowd and put himself back in the lead of the World Championship with his superb win in Valencia.
From 11th on the grid he made a good start and then took every opportunity he could to move himself up the field. The retirement of leader Sebastian Vettel was the only real gift he received, and the rest he mainly did himself.
The Spaniard was clearly in an emotional mood after the race.
“I don’t know what to say really,” said Alonso. “It’s an amazing feeling. I still can remember Barcelona in 2006, now, so years after the win. So probably I will have better and better memories of today with time.
“Right now, it’s just too many things on my feelings and too many thanks to give to all the team, all the fans, all the support that I felt all weekend. Especially yesterday after the qualifying, you never think that you can do a good result or that you can fight for the podium or something like that.
“When you find yourself third in the race after the safety car, I said: ‘hopefully there is the checkered flag now and I enjoy this podium celebration.’ Two laps later I overtake Grosjean on the restart and you think again ‘hopefully the race finishes now’. Then Vettel stopped and it was a very long race until the end and, yeah, I enjoyed so much this moment. But as I said, difficult to put in words what I’m feeling.”
As happened to other drivers, Alonso had tire worries, which started eight laps from the finish. He still managed to keep up a good pace.
“I said to the team ‘the tires are finished, we need to do something’. They said, ‘Wait one more sector because they are not quicker than you at this moment’. The next sector they were the same as me.
“So they said, ‘wait one more lap to see how much quicker they are’ and the next lap they were the same time as us. Wait another lap and wait another and then it was three laps from the end and they were in the same lap times and we went until the end. But the tires were as finished as in Canada but it was for everybody this time.”
As ever Alonso isn’t getting too excited about the World Championship.
“I think we always need to be cautious and we always need to be honest with ourselves first and with our supporters, saying that we will fight, will work day and night to be competitive and to fight for the title which is the ultimate goal for Ferrari. Any championship in which we participate, the championship should be the target, regarding the history and the level of the team.
“But yesterday we were P11 and P13 so we need to work. It’s true that we believe and we will never give up, we will have confidence in ourselves and we will arrive with optimism at every Grand Prix we go to, but at the same time, apart from winning today or finishing sixth today, we know that we are not in the position that we want to be and there are a few cars quicker than us and we cannot be blind to that. We need to work.”
Adam Cooper notched up his 27th season as a racing journalist in 2011. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Follow him on Twitter.
From 11th on the grid he made a good start and then took every opportunity he could to move himself up the field. The retirement of leader Sebastian Vettel was the only real gift he received, and the rest he mainly did himself.
The Spaniard was clearly in an emotional mood after the race.
“I don’t know what to say really,” said Alonso. “It’s an amazing feeling. I still can remember Barcelona in 2006, now, so years after the win. So probably I will have better and better memories of today with time.
“Right now, it’s just too many things on my feelings and too many thanks to give to all the team, all the fans, all the support that I felt all weekend. Especially yesterday after the qualifying, you never think that you can do a good result or that you can fight for the podium or something like that.
“When you find yourself third in the race after the safety car, I said: ‘hopefully there is the checkered flag now and I enjoy this podium celebration.’ Two laps later I overtake Grosjean on the restart and you think again ‘hopefully the race finishes now’. Then Vettel stopped and it was a very long race until the end and, yeah, I enjoyed so much this moment. But as I said, difficult to put in words what I’m feeling.”
As happened to other drivers, Alonso had tire worries, which started eight laps from the finish. He still managed to keep up a good pace.
“I said to the team ‘the tires are finished, we need to do something’. They said, ‘Wait one more sector because they are not quicker than you at this moment’. The next sector they were the same as me.
“So they said, ‘wait one more lap to see how much quicker they are’ and the next lap they were the same time as us. Wait another lap and wait another and then it was three laps from the end and they were in the same lap times and we went until the end. But the tires were as finished as in Canada but it was for everybody this time.”
As ever Alonso isn’t getting too excited about the World Championship.
“I think we always need to be cautious and we always need to be honest with ourselves first and with our supporters, saying that we will fight, will work day and night to be competitive and to fight for the title which is the ultimate goal for Ferrari. Any championship in which we participate, the championship should be the target, regarding the history and the level of the team.
“But yesterday we were P11 and P13 so we need to work. It’s true that we believe and we will never give up, we will have confidence in ourselves and we will arrive with optimism at every Grand Prix we go to, but at the same time, apart from winning today or finishing sixth today, we know that we are not in the position that we want to be and there are a few cars quicker than us and we cannot be blind to that. We need to work.”
Adam Cooper notched up his 27th season as a racing journalist in 2011. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Follow him on Twitter.
Grand Prix of Bahrain
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