Q:
And how was this afternoon as the position does not look all that good?
NR:
Yeah but you never know how much fuel you have. I was full up to the top. It is important for us, even though I get my ten places and everything, to show pace this weekend. We have made progress and we really need to get on top of things as
Renault, Red Bull and
Toyota have gone a small step ahead of us lately, so on these sorts of tracks it is really important for us, even this weekend, to show some strong pace.
Q:
Fernando, fastest time. Where did that come from this afternoon?
Fernando Alonso:
I don't know. I think it has been a good day for us. The car performed quite well in P1 and P2. I was sixth fastest in the morning session and now fastest in the second session with good balance. We have made some progress in terms of set-up and new parts that we brought here to this Grand Prix as well. They seemed to work fine and for sure I feel elated as if we are quicker than the
Ferrari that would be very much a surprise. We are not that fast probably.
Q:
It's quite a Renault circuit this, isn't it?
FA:
Yeah, it seems that when we come to our home Grand Prix everybody works harder, so hopefully we can do many more races in France.
Q:
Having said that, you had the problem this morning and retirement in Canada as well.
FA:
Yeah, this morning we had an engine problem but that can happen. Obviously, the engines for the races are much more prepared. For testing and Friday practice, the engines are sometimes not completely new and you always have a little bit more risk, so I'm pretty sure that these things will not happen in the races. In Canada it was a frustrating Sunday because the weekend was quite good for us, fourth in qualifying and then in the race we were running – after the crash in the pit lane with Kimi, Nico and Hamilton out of the race – we had a chance to be on the podium but then we were a little bit unlucky with the one-stop car strategies and we were a little bit too slow. So in the end we didn't finish, so it was frustrating.
Q:
Someone described this afternoon as being a touch of the old magic from
Fernando Alonso.
FA:
Well, for sure it's one of the races that I'm more concentrated because in Barcelona we had an engine failure, in Turkey I was fifth or sixth – I don't remember – and in Monaco and Canada no points again. So in the Drivers' championship I am a little bit too far from the position I want to be in, and in the Constructors' championship, which is more important this year because I'm not fighting for the Drivers' championship, I want to have the team to at least finish in fourth place, behind the top three teams. But we are a little bit too far now from
Red Bull. They have 21 points I think, so now it's up to us and I take responsibility as well to score points and to help the team to finish fourth.
