“If we had stopped with Hamilton we would have returned in fourth and
then with (Romain) Grosjean’s degradation we would have finished fourth in
the race and it would have been a huge mistake to stop.”
Alonso added that he was puzzled after being overtaken by Frenchman Grosjean
and Mexico’s Sergio Perez of Sauber, who ran the same one-stop strategy.
“We stopped on the same lap as Grosjean and he finished second with the
same lap-times as Hamilton, so it’s not about stopping with Hamilton or
deciding not to stop, or stopping once or twice.
“The problem is that Grosjean did 55 laps with the tyres with a good pace
and we did 45. That’s the only problem.”
His Ferrari team-mate, Felipe Massa, however, was “angry” after he
spun on the fifth lap and wound up 10th.
“I am angry with myself for the mistake at turn one. I lost touch with
the quickest group and then my tyres were vibrating too much, which meant I
had to pit early.
“Tenth place definitely does not reflect our potential. Now it is vital
we continue to work in this direction. It was a weekend in which we were
always fighting for the top places and we have improved in every area and
that has to be a confidence boost for the rest of the season.”