Fernando Alonso Q & A

The ING Renault F1 Team looks forward to round thirteen of the season, the Italian Grand Prix at Monza. Fernando Alonso: “I believe we can finish the year strongly”

Fernando, it was a disappointing weekend in Spa – tell us about your race...
It was very frustrating as we missed another good opportunity to fight for a podium and score important points. It’s true that we were missing pace in qualifying, but the car was more competitive in the race and things were looking good until my first pitstop when it became clear that the car was damaged.

Do you think your luck will change in Monza?
I hope so because we have a competitive car but we haven’t been able to show the true potential so far. We saw how quick the car was at the Nurburgring, Budapest and Valencia, but for various reasons we haven’t scored the points that we should have. However, I always look forward, try to stay positive and will approach the rest of the season believing that we can finish the year strongly. At least we know that we have a car that is fast enough to get close to the podium, which will be my aim this weekend in Monza.

Tell us about the challenge of racing at Monza?
It’s a special track and the fastest of the year so we run the car with a special low downforce package which means the car feels very strange and light because you miss a bit of grip in the corners. In the past we used to test at Monza before the race as you need a special set-up with the car, but obviously we can’t do that now which means we have a lot of work to do on Friday to find a good balance. You need a car that has good straight-line speed, is stable under braking and can use the curbs in the chicanes.