Alonso pleased with third but felt win was possible
Alonso fought hard but had to settle for third at the end of an eventful race
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By Matt Hallam. |  |
Monday, 14, Jun 2010 01:14
By Adam Leveridge.
Fernando Alonso said he was pleased to have finished on the podium in Sunday's Canadian grand prix, even though he felt a win was within reach for Ferrari.
The Spaniard had an exciting race where he spent most of his time battling with the McLaren pairing of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button.
A quick first stop from the Ferrari team put Alonso side-by-side with Hamilton as the pair exited the pit-lane and with the inside line at turn one, past the McLaren driver.
However, Alonso was delayed by slow-moving traffic, allowing both Hamilton to reclaim the lead and then Button to snatch second later in the race, forcing him to settle for the third and final podium place.
Despite being denied the outright win, Alonso is happy with the result, having been capable of fighting on an even keel with the likes of McLaren and Red Bull, who have had the strongest outright pace for the duration of the season so far.
"It was a good day for us, the car was very competitive here in Canada and I think we had a good opportunity to win today," said Alonso.
"First I fought with Lewis and I overtook him thanks to great work in the pit-lane and then lost the position again because of traffic in the final laps of the race with Jenson [Button].
"I think it was a difficult race for traffic and we had two moments where we lost position to both Lewis [Hamilton] and Jenson, but overall we have to consider that, in Turkey, we were over 50 seconds behind the McLarens in the race and here we were fighting wheel-by-wheel for the win," Alonso told the BBC.
"We've gone in the right direction and I think we've made good progress, so I think we will be on the podium more consistently and we can try to fight for this championship."
The result in Canada puts Alonso in fourth place in the drivers' standings on a total of 94 points, while Ferrari are clinging on to McLaren and Red Bull in the constructors' table, in third place.