Ferrari won't repeat mistakes, vows Fernando Alonso

13 April 2012

Fernando Alonso has vowed to pick up the pieces of his shattering near-miss in this season's Formula One world title fight and come back stronger next year.

Alonso's hopes of a third championship were wrecked by the wretched tactics employed by Ferrari in yesterday's deciding showdown in Abu Dhabi.

It resulted in Alonso finishing a lowly seventh when all he had to do was cover Sebastian Vettel's race victory with fourth place.

Instead, after being held up by Renault's Vitaly Petrov for 40 laps, Alonso found himself trailing Vettel by over 30 seconds, with the German becoming the sport's youngest champion by four points.

Alonso could not hide his frustration at the conclusion as he gesticulated at Petrov on the slow-down lap from the cockpit of his car.

But afterwards the 29-year-old was more philosophical as he said: "I had said it over the past few days, but this is still a great season.

"There have been some very intense months, and I found myself in a team that has an amazing atmosphere.

"Now there is some sadness, but I am sure with a clear head we will begin to appreciate better what we have achieved.

"We have to continue like that, staying united, determined, and we have to face next year with the same will to win.

"That is what has characterised this season - something I learned very quickly, something that is in the Ferrari blood.

"For next season we must improve the car and ensure the mistakes that all of us - the drivers and the team - have made during the year are not repeated."

Team principal Stefano Domenicali admitted to making "a mistake" with the strategy, yet president Luca di Montezemolo refused to admonish him or those on the pitwall who oversaw the decisions that denied Alonso his third moment of glory.

"Our morale is low after the conclusion to this season, but that's sport," said Di Montezemolo.

"We had everything in place to win the title with Fernando, but things did not go our way.

"All the same, I want to publicly thank the team for being capable of getting to the final round still in the fight for the drivers' title, staging a comeback which in July, almost everyone considered an impossible task.

"We believed in it right to the end and this result should not cancel out what we have done this season.

"In all but two of the last 14 years, we have reached the final race of the season either in the fight for the title or having already won it.

"Fernando has had an extraordinary season, demonstrating his strength and determination, always being close to the team and making an exceptional contribution.

"Domenicali has done a great job, keeping the team united at all times, even in the toughest moments.

"It will take us a little while to get over this disappointment, but we have to keep our heads up and be proud of what we have done."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in