F1: This Was A Perfect Year

Formula 1

F1: This Was A Perfect Year - Alonso

Ferrari driver calls Sebastian Vettel a worthy champion...

Adam Cooper | http://www.speedtv.com | Posted December 12, 2012 Balen (BEL)

Fernando Alonso of Spain, racing for Scuderia Ferrari, holds his Formula One World Championship award presented at the FIA Prize Giving Gala 2012 on December 7, 2012 in Istanbul, Turkey. (Photo: Getty Images)

Fernando Alonso said he had a perfect year in 2012, while at the same time saying that rival Sebastian Vettel was a worthy champion.

Speaking at a sponsor event in Madrid the Spaniard said he would struggle to have such a good season again.

“Sometimes you think you’ve done a good job and at others you feel something is lacking or that you would like to change or improve for the following year,” said Alonso. “But this time, I think this was a perfect year and I am very happy with my season. I think it will be almost impossible to do the same again in my career.

“Vettel is a worthy champion – he scored more points than anyone else and that is clear for all to see. Red Bull will again be favorites next year, ending this season with seven or eight tenths in hand over us, and that will be hard for us to make up over the winter.

“The McLaren was also quicker than us and, at the end, even Force India and Lotus were ahead of us. Having said that, I remain confident, partly because we will be starting from a better base than this year. It would be hard to start as badly as in 2012. In Jerez at the first test, we were two seconds and a half off the pace, in Australia one and a half seconds.”

Regarding next year, he said: “There’s a lot of work to do but our objective is clear, to have two Ferraris ahead of the field, both on Saturday and Sunday. These past few years, some teams have managed that, but not us – we will try again in 2013. I don’t think the fact the Maranello wind tunnel has been temporarily closed will be a handicap. We will use other wind tunnels, and indeed we have been doing just that for the past few months.”

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.