Fernando Alonso has elected to put a frustrating German Grand Prix this weekend behind him and focus on moving on to the next race on the 2008
Formula 1 World Championship calendar in Hungary in a fortnight's time.
After lining up a strong fifth on the starting grid, the Spaniard fell back at the start behind BMW-Sauber's
Robert Kubica, and would lose a further place to
Ferrari's
Kimi Raikkonen following a failed attempt to pass former team-mate
Jarno Trulli.
Indeed, coming off worse in scraps became a bit of a feature of the former double
F1 World Champion's race, as he engaged in a succession of fraught battles, most notably with
Scuderia Toro Rosso's
Sebastian Vettel.
That culminated in the man from Oviedo shaking his fist angrily at his young German rival after he was pushed over the white line upon exiting the pit-lane after both stubbornly refused to yield, before he spun in the latter stages of the race and ultimately took the chequered flag a lowly eleventh.
His disappointment, indeed, contrasted starkly with the joy of rookie team-mate
Nelsinho Piquet, who not only out-paced Alonso to the tune of two tenths of a second in terms of fastest lap times, but also registered
Renault's first podium position of the campaign up in second place [see separate story –
click here].
“That was a difficult race for me,” the 26-year-old rued afterwards. “I had a bad start and lost several positions. Then I was on the pace, but it was difficult to recover.
“I think we were simply out of luck today, but we must now look forward and concentrate on the next grand prix.”
“While Nelson had some luck today, it totally deserted Fernando,” agreed the
Régie's executive director of engineering Pat Symonds. “He had a difficult race and none of the breaks went his way, but we know Fernando always gives his best. Today's race will make him even more determined for Hungary.”
