Sunday: Alonso offers victory to Ferrari and its fans
On his home turf, although it was the European Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso secured his second victory of the season and regained the lead in the world championship, benefiting notably from the misfortunes of his main rivals. Less fortunate, Felipe Massa had a day made difficult by the events of the race.
Fernando Alonso – Winner:
« It was an unforgettable day for me and I can’t find the right words to express what I feel! Winning in my country is an indescribable emotion: I always remember the victory in Barcelona in 2006, and winning today in Valencia with this fantastic team is wonderful, especially as we are going through such difficult times in Spain right now. It’s great that sport, and I think of the victories of La Roja in football and Nadal, can give people a reason to smile.
Regarding my stop on the cool-down lap, I don’t know what happened, but it happened at the right moment because I was in front of the stands and I was able to celebrate with my fans! Sport always teaches us the same lesson, namely that there are ups and downs and things can change quickly. Yesterday, we didn’t make it to Q3 and today we won: it means we must never give up, until the checkered flag. It’s a nice gift for everyone who came from far away, some sleeping in their cars and staying in the stands despite the scorching heat.
At the beginning, it wasn’t easy to gain positions, and I tried to brake as late as possible at turn 4, staying on the outside. Then I started to carve my way through, and after the safety car, I began to think that a podium was possible. Then I launched an attack on Grosjean and managed to overtake him, even though I was worried about having sustained some damage when we touched. After two or three corners, I realized everything was fine, and I relaxed.
When I inherited the lead of the race after Vettel’s retirement, we all hoped the tires would hold until the end. I was constantly talking to my engineer who told me I was keeping the same pace as those behind me: in the end, there wasn’t much left [in the tires], but unlike in Canada, the others were in the same situation.
It was very moving to be on the podium with Andrea Stella [editor’s note: his race engineer] because he also worked with Michael and Kimi: he could not have celebrated a completely unexpected victory better given our position on the grid. Reflecting on yesterday, what happened confirms that there is still a lot of work to do and we must be honest about this, with ourselves and our fans. We will do everything we can to win this championship, but we still don’t have the fastest car and we must push to reach this goal as quickly as possible.
Felipe Massa – 18th:
« What do you want me to say? Nothing went right today! From the eighth lap, I started to feel that something was wrong at the back of the car, and after the race, the team found damage that completely ruined the car’s balance and aerodynamic downforce. I went from being able to fight with the Force Indias to losing a second per lap! I’m very disappointed because I had a good pace and was in contact with the group where Fernando was. Then there was also a collision with Kobayashi, and at that moment, all my hopes for points evaporated.
The car performed very well today and was on par with the best, I am thrilled for Fernando who had a fantastic race to win, but there is also a bit of bitterness as today it could have gone very well for both of us.
