Fernando Alonso: "It's now a mini-championship"

[Bram Hengeveld]

Fernando Alonso says the final five races of the season are now “a mini-championship” after his title lead was almost wiped out by a first-corner collision with Kimi Raikkonen at Suzuka.

The Ferrari driver started from sixth, directly in front of Raikkonen, and at lights out the Lotus driver attempted to pressure Alonso with a move around the outside. The Finn made a small mistake, however, putting a wheel into the dirt, and the momentary loss of control led to a collision. Alonso immediately spun off in a cloud of dust, his race over.

"Today, we were very unlucky: to finish a race like this, at the very first corner is really a shame. Contact from Raikkonen caused a puncture to the left rear tyre and my race ended there,” he said. “This result has practically wiped out the advantage I had before, but if I'd been told at the start of the season that we would have been in this situation five races from the end, I'd have happily signed for it!

“Now we start a sort of mini-championship, run over five grands prix,” he added. “The aim will be to score at least one point more than all the others. What happened to us today could happen to the others next time: the wheel turns and that is what races are all about.”

Alonso admitted that the accident could have been avoided if he had a car capable of qualifying beyond the lower half of the top-10, where he said incidents are common.

“Unfortunately, when you start in the middle of the pack, these things can happen, because apart from the performance of the car – and ours is usually better on Sunday – circumstance can count for a lot. That could be seen from Felipe's race. He started tenth, but produced a perfect race, fighting with the fastest cars.

“Clearly, we must work a lot on the development of the car: I'm not worried, but we must react to the step forward that the other competitors have made.”

(Source: FIA Press)

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[Jimi Hughes]

Did someone say Mini Championship?

 

[CJ Flynn]

haha ha

 

[Marco80]

For what Alonso has achieved with this car, he already deserves to be champion.

If Alonso ever has the best car on the grid he would be like Schumacher in the Ferrari dominance era.

 

[Kennett Ylitalo]

The Finn made a small mistake, however, putting a wheel into the dirt, and the momentary loss of control led to a collision.

What? Alonso pushed Kimi out, they had a contact, Alonsos left rear touched Kimis right front, which made Kimi go to grass. He came back, still within track boundaries when Alonso hit Kimis frontwing.. There was no mistake from Kimi, he kept his car on a single line, no veering or sudden movements...

 

[Gavin Hendley]

What? Alonso pushed Kimi out, they had a contact, Alonsos left rear touched Kimis right front, which made Kimi go to grass. He came back, still within track boundaries when Alonso hit Kimis frontwing.. There was no mistake from Kimi, he kept his car on a single line, no veering or sudden movements...

Your a clown, Read it again, no one is blaming Kimi, in fact Alonso is blaming the performance of his car for being in that position. The only reason Alonso got a puncture is because Kimi lost it when he touched the grass fact.

 

[Kennett Ylitalo]

Your a clown, Read it again, no one is blaming Kimi, in fact Alonso is blaming the performance of his car for being in that position. The only reason Alonso got a puncture is because Kimi lost it when he touched the grass fact.

Thank you for your kind words, sir. I suggest you study the video yourself... Alonso hit Kimis front tire pushing him slightly off track. It was no mistake from Kimi.

 

[vinnyvortex]

From looking at the video Alonso did squeeze Kimi out on to the grass, but no contact was made until Kimi rejoined the track, only then was there contact between the two, just a racing incident, neither driver seems fussed.

 

[Kennett Ylitalo]

It's just a strange choice of words to make it less Alonsos fault and blaming Kimi for what was clearly Alonsos own fault 100%.. He had room on the right, enough to make them both fit.This was from FIA right?

 

[Xosé Estrada]

It's just a strange choice of words to make it less Alonsos fault and blaming Kimi for what was clearly Alonsos own fault 100%.. He had room on the right, enough to make them both fit.This was from FIA right?

For me its tace incident, but I see similar blame on Alonso or Kimi, thight situation, difficult to race with milimeters space.

But they touch when Kimi comes back from the grass, where he probably had to go because Alonso gift him the minimum room possible, so for me it's both fault.

 

[Marco80]

If you are not even at the very least half way alongside a car, let alone only your FRONT wing being alongside their REAR tyre, then it's up to you to back off the throttle as you clearly don't have the right of way. Kimi should have lifted for just a split second as he was so far behind Alonso, there is a point when defending your position, or when tryin to gain a position that you have to let it go, and when your front wing is only alongside the guys rear tyre that is not far up along-side enough your opponent ad you therefore need to concede the line/space to your opponent.

Kimi should know this in all his years of battling, and he does know it, as he has shown in other battles during his career, but today for some reason he couldn't care less. Then he had to swerve/go off road, by that point it was too late, he should have conceded by then as he was so far behind (front wing to rear tyre isn't enough use your head kimi, we all know that you know this aswell)

 

[Kennett Ylitalo]

But the situation started when Kimis front tire was in par with Alonsos rear tire, not when the collision happened.. He never got a chance to lift off..

 

[Marco80]

I dont know about that, I watched the replay many times from different angles, kimi had quite a bit of time to see what was happening and wasn't far up enough alongside in my opinion.

 

[Christopher Mattiuz]

Did someone say Mini Championship?

I propose a change of format to the upcoming Race of Champions event.

We move the event to a nearby road racing course and we have all the competitors race in short heat races with a approximately hour long Final and have all the competitors race the Mini Challenge cars.