SinanOzerS
17th March 2013, 10:01
Fernando Alonso has described his second-place finish in Sunday's Australian Grand Prix as ‘a fantastic result’ for his Ferrari team, with the Maranello-based outfit enjoying a much stronger start to the Formula 1 season than 12 months ago.
The Spaniard, who leapfrogged team-mate Felipe Massa and Red Bull rival Sebastian Vettel during a frantic second pit-stop phase, took the first chequered flag of the year just over 12 seconds behind race-winner Kimi Räikkönen.
"It was a fantastic race for us, fighting for the win," said Alonso. "I’m a little bit sad not to win the race but Kimi was fantastic today and the Lotus team as well. We need to congratulate them for a fantastic race.
"It was not easy and there was some tricky traffic with backmarkers, but we’re extremely happy after a very difficult start last year. Now the situation is very different; we’re optimistic, the car is handling well and we have an extremely interesting season ahead of us."
Alonso approaches next weekend’s Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang with a seven-point deficit to Räikkönen in the early championship standings, while Red Bull rival and current title holder Sebastian Vettel sits three points further back.
The Spaniard, who leapfrogged team-mate Felipe Massa and Red Bull rival Sebastian Vettel during a frantic second pit-stop phase, took the first chequered flag of the year just over 12 seconds behind race-winner Kimi Räikkönen.
"It was a fantastic race for us, fighting for the win," said Alonso. "I’m a little bit sad not to win the race but Kimi was fantastic today and the Lotus team as well. We need to congratulate them for a fantastic race.
"It was not easy and there was some tricky traffic with backmarkers, but we’re extremely happy after a very difficult start last year. Now the situation is very different; we’re optimistic, the car is handling well and we have an extremely interesting season ahead of us."
Alonso approaches next weekend’s Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang with a seven-point deficit to Räikkönen in the early championship standings, while Red Bull rival and current title holder Sebastian Vettel sits three points further back.