F1: Alonso Still Upbeat Despite Bad Qualifying

Formula 1

F1: Alonso Still Upbeat Despite Bad Qualifying

Fernando Alonso will start eighth in Austin, and hopes to keep his title hopes alive...

Adam Cooper | http://www.speedtv.com | Posted November 17, 2012 Austin, TX

Fernando Alonso is second in the World Championship. (Photo: Getty Images)

Fernando Alonso continues to be upbeat about his title chances despite fortune not favoring him in qualifying in Austin.

Alonso struggled to match teammate Felipe Massa as he struggled for grip, and finished Q3 in ninth place. He later picked up a spot from Romain Grosjean’s penalty, although it puts the Ferrari driver onto the dirty side of the track.
“It’s the same as the last race: we were position seven in Abu Dhabi and here we are position eight, so it’s more or less the same,” said Alonso. “We will try to recover good places on Sunday; that is normally our strong point.

“I still believe that tomorrow we can score more points than Sebastian (Vettel, points leader). The race is long, anything can happen, and we need to keep confidence and be optimistic because the race pace normally improves a lot.

“If everything goes smooth for Red Bull, they should win this and Brazil. Sometimes it doesn’t go smooth for everybody, so we will try to do our race and take benefit of others’ mistakes.”

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.