Fernando Alonso may only have finished today’s German Grand Prix in fifth place, but the Spaniard has still hailed it as being his best race of the season given the circumstances he was racing under.
After qualifying down in seventh yesterday, Alonso told the media that he would be looking at all the different possible factors which could come into play during the race, such as the weather and his tire strategy.
The race turned out to be dry throughout, but there were a number of different pit strategies used, and Alonso felt that fifth place was the best result he could have achieved at the Hockenheimring.
“I think fifth place was the maximum today,” Alonso said. “I am very pleased and very happy.
“Austria was probably the best race so far in the season for me, but now it is probably this one as it was quite complex.
“To manage the start, the fuel, the tires, the change of strategy and the battles, it was a very complex race and was very difficult to execute. I am happy.”
Despite securing this result, Ferrari dropped behind Williams in the constructors’ championship, and Alonso admitted that his team needs to up its game if it is to beat the British outfit come the end of the season.
“Yes, I think it is going to be difficult,” he said. “No doubt that Williams is on good form now, they have been very competitive since Canada, that they already showed the potential there. Canada, Austria, Silverstone and here, they were out of reach for us.
“We really need to do a better job if we want to fight with them for the constructors’ championship. We can’t forget Force India and McLaren, especially McLaren. Yesterday they were half a second faster than us. That is also a threat from behind but we need to keep working and improving.
“Our target remains the same, we need to score as many points and possible and try to help Ferrari at every weekend.”
