Five podiums to win the title - Alonso

F1 Grand Prix, GP Singapore, Marina Bay Street Circuit

As the floodlights brought an artificial brightness to the Marina Bay paddock, Fernando Alonso faced the press for his usual Thursday meeting and, just like every other race Thursday for the past few races, the first question concerned his title aspirations.

“I think we can have a quick car everywhere in the remaining races,” affirmed Alonso. “We might not have the quickest car in the slow corners, or even in terms of straight line speed, but overall we have a very competitive package at all types of circuit and in all types of conditions. Hopefully this will help us for the remaining races.”

And to a specific question as to what he personally had to do to win the title, Fernando did not have an obvious answer. “I would like to know the answer to that!” he laughed. “If we have five podiums from five races, at least we will be very close, as consistency has not been a strong point for anyone among the top teams. Everyone has had some up and downs. Webber, who leads, has an average of 14 points per race, which means that finishing P3 in the remaining races would give you more than the leading average so far. We need to have good races because at this stage a DNF (Did Not Finish) or a retirement would probably mean bye bye to the championship. We need to finish all the races on the podium. This race has the same importance as all the other remaining races, although having won the last race in Monza, Singapore is important for Ferrari to keep the momentum going, to keep everyone in the team motivated. You cannot really consider the points situation in every race and I believe all drivers fighting for the title will be aggressive and take risks. In the end it will be about the package of the car, its set-up and what upgrades we can bring.”

The Spaniard went on to explain his special preparation regime for the night time event. “I have no special preparation for this race, apart from sticking to European time, which is the same as everyone, waking up at midday,” he said. “As for the humidity, it’s true it is very high and then there is the visibility which is different with the artificial light. In order to prepare for that, we try and find some time to do other sports at night after leaving the track to adapt the eyes to react quickly in these conditions, as well as getting used to the humidity.”