Fernando Alonso: It was a tough race

Fernando Alonso has described yesterday’s German Grand Prix as a tough race, even though the Spaniard romped to victory by just under four seconds. After securing pole position during a wet qualifying session, the Ferrari driver dominated proceedings throughout the due course of the 67-lap race.

With Jenson Button gradually reeling in the Spaniard before initially falling off the pace throughout the closing stages of the German Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso has admitted that Ferrari didn’t necessarily have the fastest car throughout the race. However, as Jenson Button and Sebastian Vettel jostled for position, Fernando Alonso was able to take his third victory of the season and further extend his lead at the top of the Drivers’ Championship.

“It was tough, definitely, I don’t think it was an easy race because maybe we were not the quickest on dry conditions.” Explained Fernando Alonso. “But we were quite competitive, enough to maintain the lead. Also it was some good calls by the team in terms of strategy in the first stop and then obviously in the second stop when Jenson pitted.”

With the drivers completing very little running on the dry tyres throughout practice earlier in the weekend, particularly the softer compound, there was question marks over how the tyres would behave during the race. However, Ferrari’s predications were more or less accurate, with tyre wear not as high as experienced at other venues throughout the year. When asked about the tyres, Fernando Alonso reiterated the fact that Ferrari’s cunning strategy assisted him in taking victory.

“It was a question mark, I think, for everybody because we didn’t test on Friday enough laps to understand the tyres,” continued the Spaniard. “Also last year it was at the Nürburgring so [it was] the first time for Pirelli in this asphalt. The predictions, more or less, were right; we were thinking to do two stops and at the end it was two stops. It was not big surprises, degradation was quite low, as suspected and it was fine.”

After yet another successful weekend for Fernando Alonso, the Spaniard will be striving for a further victory next weekend around the Hungaroring as the F1 fraternity gears up for the Hungarian Grand Prix. With Alonso now 34 points ahead of Mark Webber in the Drivers’ Championship, the Spaniard is safe in the knowledge that he’ll enter the summer recess leading the Championship regardless of next weekends result.

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