Fernando Alonso insisted that he wouldn't change anything about his own performance during the 2012 F1 season despite missing out on the championship title in Brazil.
The Spaniard went into the final race of the year 13 points behind
Sebastian Vettel but saw the season finale turned on its head when Vettel was involved in a clash with Bruno Senna on the opening lap and dropped to the rear of the field.
It gave Alonso a real chance of beating his rival to the title, with the Spaniard in a position to win his third championship on a number of occasions as the race wore on.
When it really mattered however, second place wasn't enough to give Alonso the title after Vettel was able to cross the line in sixth spot but the Spaniard said he was proud of the way in which he had maintained his championship bid in a car many felt wasn't capable of being a contender.
The double champion also admitted that the title had been lost in Belgium and Japan where he was forced to retire on the opening lap; the only two occasions that he would fail to score all season.
"I score this season a ten!” he said. “If we had to repeat these twenty races I would change nothing done by the team or yours truly: no mistakes, no mechanical problems, zero problems at the pit stops, zero strategic mistakes. We definitely did not lose the title today, as that happened in Spa or Suzuka.
“We might not have finished the season with the most points, but we won many other things, like everyone's respect and fans and colleagues agree on who was the best this year. I am proud of the job I did and that was also the case last year when I finished fourth and again this time when I fought right to the very end.
“Once again we did an impeccable job, finishing on the podium after starting from the fourth row, producing yet another little Sunday miracle. The team kept me constantly updated about Vettel and, towards the end, I was hoping something might happen to him or Button which would allow us to reach our goal. It didn't happen and we must accept the result delivered on the race track.
“What to ask from the team for 2013? That's easy, a quicker car, but most of all I'd like to see the same effort and professionalism the team displayed when it reacted to our initial difficulties. Even if maybe we didn't manage to reach the performance level of the best, everyone demonstrated total dedication.”