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Formula 1
F1: Alonso - Title Battle Out Of Our Hands
Fernando Alonso can still win the World Championship in Brazil, but the Spaniard faces a steep climb...
Fernando Alonso participates in a press conference Thursday at Interlagos. (Photo: Getty Images)
Fernando Alonso says all he can do in Brazil this weekend is finish on the podium – the minimum requirement to beat points leader Sebastian Vettel – and then see how his rival fares.
Alonso is 13 points behind the German, and needs at least a third-place finish, even if Vettel finishes outside the points in the Brazilian GP.
“I think we need to try to do a normal weekend, and try to score as many points as we can,” said Alonso. “Obviously, it will be good to be on the podium and score a minimum 15 points and then when we cross the line we see where Sebastian is and we try to do some numbers after that.
“The first priority for us is to be in the podium, let’s say, which gives us the possibility to score more than 13 points, and then we need to wait obviously for the results from Red Bull because it is not in our hands. We have not much to lose; we have only the possibility to win something and we will try to do our best.”
Asked about his championship loss to Vettel in Abu Dhabi in 2010, Alonso said: “I think these are different circumstances from Abu Dhabi. Now we have DRS, KERS so it was a little bit more difficult to pass, and maybe the rule was also introduced because of that race.
“I think even if you find yourself at the back of the grid, you're still able to recover positions, as we saw in Abu Dhabi this year. Even if Seb started last, he finished on the podium, so we will see what we have in mind, that this is Formula One.
“This is a sport and anything can happen until the checkered flag, so we will try to do the best race we can and, as I said, cross the line on the podium which gives us more than 13 points, and see where Sebastian crosses the line. If we win, we will be very happy but we know that we need some strange combination of results; if we don't win, we will congratulate him and we will try next year.”
Alonso also made it clear that Ferrari has to find performance in 2013.
“We are working hard,” he said. “It was a tough season for us, the first couple of months were not as we expected. When we put the car on the circuit the first time in Jerez, we were two seconds off the pace, and we didn’t understand how the car was working, so we changed many things.
“There was a lot of work going on in the wind tunnel in Maranello, in the car itself, and after some understanding of the car, we were a little bit more in the pace, and we were able to fight for podiums more or less constantly all the season. And that gave the possibility to be right now fighting for the World Championship.
“But we are not totally happy with the performance of the car all through the season, and many changes will be made for next year. Hopefully, we can recover a little bit of the gap we have now. In winter we will have to do an extra job compared to the other teams to recover this gap.”
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.
Alonso is 13 points behind the German, and needs at least a third-place finish, even if Vettel finishes outside the points in the Brazilian GP.
“I think we need to try to do a normal weekend, and try to score as many points as we can,” said Alonso. “Obviously, it will be good to be on the podium and score a minimum 15 points and then when we cross the line we see where Sebastian is and we try to do some numbers after that.
“The first priority for us is to be in the podium, let’s say, which gives us the possibility to score more than 13 points, and then we need to wait obviously for the results from Red Bull because it is not in our hands. We have not much to lose; we have only the possibility to win something and we will try to do our best.”
Asked about his championship loss to Vettel in Abu Dhabi in 2010, Alonso said: “I think these are different circumstances from Abu Dhabi. Now we have DRS, KERS so it was a little bit more difficult to pass, and maybe the rule was also introduced because of that race.
“I think even if you find yourself at the back of the grid, you're still able to recover positions, as we saw in Abu Dhabi this year. Even if Seb started last, he finished on the podium, so we will see what we have in mind, that this is Formula One.
“This is a sport and anything can happen until the checkered flag, so we will try to do the best race we can and, as I said, cross the line on the podium which gives us more than 13 points, and see where Sebastian crosses the line. If we win, we will be very happy but we know that we need some strange combination of results; if we don't win, we will congratulate him and we will try next year.”
Alonso also made it clear that Ferrari has to find performance in 2013.
“We are working hard,” he said. “It was a tough season for us, the first couple of months were not as we expected. When we put the car on the circuit the first time in Jerez, we were two seconds off the pace, and we didn’t understand how the car was working, so we changed many things.
“There was a lot of work going on in the wind tunnel in Maranello, in the car itself, and after some understanding of the car, we were a little bit more in the pace, and we were able to fight for podiums more or less constantly all the season. And that gave the possibility to be right now fighting for the World Championship.
“But we are not totally happy with the performance of the car all through the season, and many changes will be made for next year. Hopefully, we can recover a little bit of the gap we have now. In winter we will have to do an extra job compared to the other teams to recover this gap.”
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.
Spanish Grand Prix
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