Sunday: Alonso and Ferrari can only assess the damage
Fernando Alonso finished the United States Grand Prix in 5th place, but the Spaniard hoped to do better, though his qualifying result did not give him the opportunity. He can console himself with his honorary title of vice-world champion on the drivers' side. Felipe Massa, on the other hand, was stuck in traffic and, by finishing out of the points, did not help Ferrari in its battle in the constructors' championship.
Fernando Alonso – 5th:
Finishing in the top 5 today is a very positive result when you consider how difficult this weekend has been and the fact that I had to start from the dirty side of the track. We were well aware that it would be difficult to maintain our position and in fact, I lost it to Pérez. In the first part of the race, we didn’t have enough pace and we decided to save our tires and then attack before the stop. We were more competitive on the hards, we passed Pérez and Hülkenberg, but even though our situation compared to Mercedes improved, we were not able to beat them.
I am very proud of this second place in the drivers’ championship, it’s a small reward for me, the same as being the first of the “mortals” behind Red Bull. My back is fine because I did a good warm-up before the race and it didn’t bother me. I feel more tired with all the tension of the race, but now I have three days to rest and arrive in Brazil feeling 100%. We really need to improve there, because our goal is still to finish second in the constructors’ championship.
Felipe Massa – 13th:
It was a very difficult weekend and I struggled right from the start on Friday, unable to get the tires up to temperature or to run at a good pace. At the start, I didn’t gain any position and then throughout the race, I was stuck in traffic on a track where overtaking is not that easy. We knew that making a second stop wasn’t the best choice, but I found myself in a difficult situation and we decided to take the risk of stopping for a new set of medium tires; if something had happened in front of us, like a safety car, for example, we could have taken advantage of it. Unfortunately, nothing happened and the tire wear of the drivers in front of me was low, so I was behind them finishing in the same position as on the grid. It’s really unfortunate because we could have done better. Now, we need to stay focused for the last round of the season in Brazil, my last race with Ferrari on my home circuit; so it should be an emotional weekend as a result. I hope I can be more competitive there and even if our rivals are very fast, we will do our best until the end.
