Ferrari, Fernando Alonso: “A small miracle to be in the lead”

After teammate Felipe Massa's FIA press conference, it was Fernando Alonso's turn to meet the media in the Scuderia Ferrari area inside the Suzuka paddock. The topic of the day was the recent team changes of some drivers for the 2013 season, and the Spanish driver was asked for his opinion on the matter.

“Since Singapore I have been a bit out of the 'normal' world, so I didn't know everything that had happened, apart from Hamilton's move to Mercedes and Perez to McLaren,” admitted the Ferrari driver. “But I didn't hear what they said or their reasons. I think it's normal for riders to change, it's part of their career. When the rumors first started circulating, I said it was good for Lewis to move on. As for McLaren, they have already experienced this situation before, with Prost, with Senna, with me, and now Lewis. It's been fourteen years since McLaren last won the Constructors' title, sometimes in seasons when they had the best car, and I'm sure Lewis wants to win. He did a great job with McLaren, won races and won a title, and is considered one of the best drivers. I expect him to be very competitive next year with Mercedes and a real contender for the championship."

All of this is the future while the games for this year's titles are still open. “It's a small miracle to be leading the championship at the moment,” said Fernando. “We've come a long way since the first six races, when we couldn't get into Q3 and were 1,5 seconds slower than the best. Now the car has improved and we are on the podium much more regularly and we are more optimistic, but we have to see what we can do between now and the end. If we win the title, it will be a miracle, but if we didn't we would still have done our best, because I think we have had 14 perfect races up to now. We must therefore not make mistakes in the last six, keep calm and take home as many points as possible on Sunday: sometimes we will be fourth, other times second. It depends on the race, it depends on which rival is doing what, let's see if we will be aggressive or defensive in the race. In Singapore, for example, we were aggressive at the start to compensate for a bad qualifying, but in the final stages Button and Vettel were too far ahead and there was no point in taking risks."

The media is quick to point to this as Fernando's best season in F1 in terms of driving, but the Spaniard would not make such a claim: “Every year you improve and learn from your mistakes,” said Fernando. “So far this year we have been very consistent and got the most out of the car, so I am very happy with this, not only personally in terms of driving, but also for the team, because here on the track, in all areas, we have achieved the maximum. So far, the whole package, the driver, the team, the strategy, the tire management, have benefited from what we learned last season."