A great reward for the team - Alonso
The double world champion, Fernando Alonso, reflects on yesterday's qualifying session in Budapest, which saw him take pole position for tomorrow's Hungarian Grand Prix and this after a very chaotic end of the afternoon.
"Not at all. We knew after Germany that we were more competitive and that the car had really improved with our latest updates, so we decided to use an aggressive strategy this weekend and it worked out well today."
Was it a fairly straightforward session?"Not at all. I was a bit worried in Q1 because I had to lift at the end of my quick lap because Alguersuari's car had stopped at the side of the track and I crossed the line in P16 with just a few seconds remaining. Fortunately I managed to do another lap and made it through to Q2, but it was very close."
There was a strange end to the session. You didn't know you were on pole..."Yes, it was quite unusual. I knew I had set a good time, but I didn't know what the others had done. Was I P5, P6? I didn't know. The team told me on the radio that they didn't know either because the timing screens were not working. I was the first to arrive in parc ferme and I was asking the other drivers what times they had done. Each one told me a time that was slower than me so I started to believe I had done it. Then eventually I had some confirmation. I couldn't believe it!"
And the two other cars behind you have Renault engines..."Exactly. It's an excellent result for the team at Viry, who have shown the quality of their V8. A big well done to the whole team."
What will your objective be for the race tomorrow?"Our aim will be to finish on the podium. When you start from pole position you have a good chance of doing that, whereas if you start from 9th on the grid it's only a dream. Even if we find out that we are much lighter than the others when the fuel weights are published later today, we must aim to finish on the podium."
Do you think you can have another strong end to the season, like last year?"That will depend on our rivals. It's true that last year the final part of the season was fantastic for us. I scored more points than anybody and I won two races. However, this situation was the result of improvements made to the car and the mistakes made by others: Ferrari had a problem refuelling in Singapore and the first four cars on the grid touched in Japan, which gave me the opportunity to win. We are a strong team, our motivation is very high, and we will be competitive at each race, but at the moment Red Bull are very strong. It will be difficult for us to win a race this year."
Felipe Massa was the victim of a scary accident this afternoon during the qualifying session..."I know that Felipe has to have an operation and I really hope that everything goes well. Of course I wish him a speedy recovery."
Source Renault
