Alonso's Imola Reaction


By Renault F1
April 24 2006

In a spectacular reversal of last year’s result, Fernando Alonso’s faster Renault R26 shadowed winner Michael Schumacher’s Ferrari to the flag, having closed up a lead of almost 15 seconds that the German had built during the opening stint.

Fernando Alonso, 2nd position

Second place and eight points is a perfect result for me this afternoon. We suspected that we had qualified with more fuel than the others, and the race showed we were right to pick that strategy. At a normal circuit, we could have won but this is Imola where overtaking is almost impossible. I could see that I was much faster than Michael in the second stint, and I was just trying to put pressure on him, hoping he would make a mistake. We did not plan to make our second stop when we did – we pitted early to try and overtake him but it didn’t quite work. So I stayed in his slipstream and in the last five laps, put all the revs on the engine and tried to overtake. But the Ferrari was a lot quicker again at the end, and it didn’t happen. Looking at the championship, though, this is perfect. My closest rivals at the start of the weekend were Fisichella and Raikkonen, and I have taken points from both of them. I am happy with this, and I know we will be stronger again in the Nuerburgring.

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