By role
April 7 2004

Spanish Driver fought a hard race yesterday at the Track of Bahrain. He started 16th after experiencing brake differential problems on the second qualifying session on Saturday. Starting from the dirty side of the track meant that the Spaniard could not take full advantage of the great starts of the R24.

He soon was trapped behind the Jaguar of Christian Klien and on an overtaking maneuvre he crashed braking his nosecon.

"On turn 8 I crashed with the Jaguar of Klien. He was driving from turn one looking at the mirrors until he broke my front wing. When I changed the piece I knew it was going to be a solitary race". Alonso said to Spnaish newspaper El Mundo. "To be half a minute behind the last driver is not very nice. I was dreaming of scoring one point so at the end to be able to score three has been good."

Alonso had to start a catch-up game after changing strategies. He soon was behing the pack and started to pass drivers:

"I could not overtake any driver on the straight, always on the twisty section taking advantage of the good traction control of the car and risking also quite a lot. I think it has been the race in which I have taken more risks." he said.

"The hardest to overtake has been Massa because of the power of the Sauber and also Webber for his attitude." He added.

He belives this has not been his best race so far in Formula 1.

"Last year there were races at a good level. Maybe this is my best race this year. This is the race in which I have fought harder and the car has been great. I really had a great time on the car today." He concluded.