Alonso: “Happy with third place”

In a difficult race for Ferrari, Fernando Alonso limited the damage and even though he lost the lead in the drivers' championship at the Korean GP he took third place behind Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber. The German from Red Bull is now leading the championship with a six-point advantage over the Ferrari driver with four races to go.

“It was a difficult race and, at the end of this weekend, I'm happy with how things went” commented Alonso.

“I started from the dirty side of the grid, we had doubts about the durability of the tires and what our rivals' race pace would be: with so many worries, being able to get on the podium was a nice sigh of relief. True, the Red Bulls were faster here all weekend but our goal was to be immediately behind them and we achieved it” he explained.

“True, I'm no longer the championship leader but the six points behind mean very little just as the four points lead I had up until this race meant little. Furthermore, it is very significant to have regained second position in the Constructors' championship: it means that the team is there and this will be our strong point between now and the end of the season. Being in this position despite having practically missed two races out of the last four means a lot. There are one hundred points up for grabs and everything will depend on how much we manage to improve in the next races. Here we were much closer to the top than we were in Singapore and closer than in Suzuka: we need to continue in this direction. Has Vettel achieved three consecutive victories? Well, he and Red Bull had three perfect weekends so congratulations to them but when everything goes smoothly for a long time in a row it's inevitable that, sooner or later, something will happen. We are in full fight for the title with a car that has never been the fastest: it means that we can do something good too, don't you think?” concluded Alonso.