F1 Fanatic

Fernando Alonso says he does not require an apology from Kimi Raikkonen following the accident which ended his race at the first corner at Suzuka.

Asked during the press conference ahead of the Korean Grand Prix if Raikkonen should apologies for the collision Alonso said: “No I think in the start in Suzuka was very tight between all of us.

“That’s the problem of starting in the middle of the group. I had Jenson [Button] on the right and Kimi on the left and you cannot disappear in those moments.

“So it was an unlucky situation with the front wing of Kimi and my rear tyre. And after the puncture I could not start the car in the corner.

“So it was a mix of things that were not in our part. But in the last seven, six races when we were in Suzuka and now it’s five races, you know that one or two maybe goes wrong and one or two will go wrong for the others, so we’ll see.”

Aside from his first-lap retirements in Spa and Suzuka Alonso believes his championship effort has gone very well so far: “I think we are pushing from the first test of winter so it’s nothing change in the last five races. We need to keep doing the things we have been doing so far.

“I think it has been nearly a perfect championship for us at the moment with very good strategies, good starts, good approach, good races. Everything that we had in our hands every Sunday we maximise always the points. We had one zero in Spa and one zero in Suzuka by things completely outside of our team. Apart of that we don’t need to change too many things.”

He added Ferrari have brought little in the way of updates for this weekend’s race: “obviously it has been only four days from Suzuka to here”.

Nonetheless he expects to be in contention this weekend: “We will try to set up the car as beat we can for this race. But I remain reasonably confident that we will be competitive.

“We have been more or less competitive in the last, let’s say, eight to ten races. Maybe not the fastest but always in position to fight for podiums, etc… I think here will be not different.”

2012 Korean Grand Prix

• Alonso: ‘We’re fighting against Newey’
• Vettel earns Driver of the Weekend for Korea win
• Korean Grand Prix gets lowest rating of season so far
• F1 fans’ videos from the 2012 Korean Grand Prix
• Korea “most disappointing race” this year for Williams

Image © Sauber F1 Team