Alonso: A near perfect championship

Having arrived in Korea last night, it was straight down to business for Fernando Alonso, as he was called to the FIA Press Conference in the imposing media centre at the Korean circuit.

“We all need some good points now,” replied the Ferrari man, asked if his approach to these last five races would change from the rest of the season. “But we have been pushing hard since the first test of the winter, so there is no change of approach for these final five Grands Prix and we will keep doing what we have been doing. This has been a near perfect championship for us, with good starts, well planned strategies and a good approach aimed at always maximising the points we could take from each race. We had one zero score in Spa and another in Suzuka, but they were for reasons that were out of our control.”

As for this weekend, the Spaniard made the point that one could not expect too many changes between back to back races. “We don’t have so many new updates for here, because it has only been four days since Suzuka,” he said. “But we will be working on the car set-up to suit the layout of this track. I remain reasonably confident that we can be competitive this weekend, as we have indeed been for most of the last eight to ten races, because even if we have not been the fastest, we have been in the fight for the podium.”

Apart from continuing with development of the F2012 race by race, Fernando reckoned there would be no change to the tactical approach to these final races: “I will be attacking all the races, fighting at all of them, trying to maximise our points, just as we have always done, but without overdriving. In the past four races, we have lost a lot of points, with the non finish in Spa, which was out of my hands, then the problem with having to start tenth in Monza after a qualifying problem and lastly, my puncture at the first corner in Suzuka and we can expect the rest of the season to also have some ups and downs.”

Apart from a dip in form in Japan, McLaren has been very strong in recent races and Fernando was asked if he felt that Lewis Hamilton, currently 42 points behind the Spaniard, could still be considered a title contender, or if it was not just a two horse race between the Ferrari man and Sebatian Vettel in the Red Bull. “It is harder for Lewis of course,” maintained Fernando. But there are still plenty of points available and plenty of time for him to fight back.”