Fernando Alonso: “An almost perfect championship for us”

Arriving in Korea last night, Fernando Alonso was immediately very busy, having been summoned for the FIA ​​press conference in the impressive media center set up on the Korean circuit. “Right now, we all need decisive points,” began the Ferrari driver, in response to the question of whether his approach to these last five races will be different to the rest of the season. “But we have been pushing hard since the first winter test, so there is no change in approach for these last five Grands Prix: we will continue to do what we have done up to now. This has been an almost perfect championship for us, with a good start, well-planned strategies and a good approach always aimed at maximizing the points to be won in each race. Both at Spa and Suzuka we had two races without points, but they were episodes that occurred outside of our control."

As for this weekend, the Spanish rider clarified that too many changes cannot be made when tackling two races in such close sequence. “We haven't brought many new updates for this Grand Prix, because only four days have passed since Suzuka,” he said. “But we will work on the set-up depending on the track layout. I remain quite confident that we can be competitive this weekend, as we actually have been for most of the last 8-10 races, because, even if we weren't the fastest, we were fighting for the podium." In addition to continuing with the development of the F2012 race by race, Fernando has not foreseen any changes regarding the tactical approach to these latest races: “I will attack all the races, giving battle to everyone, trying to maximize our points, as we have always done, but without overloading. In the last four races, we lost a lot of points, with the failure to finish the GP in Spa, which was beyond my ability, then the problem of having to start tenth in Monza after a problem in qualifying and, finally, the puncture at the first corner on the Suzuka track: we can expect to have some ups and downs in the rest of the season."

Apart from a dip in Japan, McLaren have been very strong in recent races and Fernando was asked whether he considered Lewis Hamilton, currently 42 points behind the Spaniard, still a title contender, or whether he felt it was now just a one-off race. two between the Ferrari driver and Sebatian Vettel with Red Bull. “And harder for Lewis, of course,” said Fernando. But there are still a lot of points available and a lot of time for him to react to the situation."