Ferrari celebrated their best result of the season at the European Grand Prix after Fernando Alonso took second place and Felipe Massa finished fifth.
Alonso said that he was particularly pleased with this podium finish, particularly because he was missing a Valencia trophy from his collection:
“I was determined to get on the podium,” said the Spaniard. “In my trophy collection, the only ones now missing are from the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and, naturally, India. I hope I can complete the collection by the end of the year!
“I was really pleased to taste champagne again, especially in front of this lovely crowd in Valencia, an amazing city where there is a great passion for racing. This result means a lot to me. It's hard to see the grandstands when you are driving, but I could feel there was great enthusiasm when I passed Webber.
“This is a positive result for the whole team, as it confirms we are working in the right direction. Today, the first hundred metres were not that great but I knew that starting on the dirty side would cost me something: then I was lucky enough to find there was still a gap on the outside and I managed to make up one place on my grid position.
“It was important to shake off the McLarens immediately, as they were slower than us today, which meant we concentrated on Webber and reached our objective. Then, when I was sure he was behind me, we tried to think about Vettel: you never know what can happen in Formula 1. The strategy paid off and sticking mainly with the Softs was the right choice.
“The Red Bulls are still significantly superior, but it was equally significant to stay close and stop them getting a one-two. We must continue like this, race after race. We know that, at Silverstone, it will be very tough because it is one of the tracks which best suits their car.”
Massa said that he enjoyed his afternoon, but was disappointed to finish it behind McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton. “It was a good race spent constantly fighting other drivers,” commented Massa. “I tried to get the most out of the Option tyres because we reckoned that with the Prime, our pace was not at its best.
“It was a shame about the problem at my second pit stop, when I lost those four or five seconds which cost me the chance of fighting Hamilton for fourth place. I think that, from what have seen in performance terms, today we should have got both our cars ahead of the McLarens, and we only half succeeded in that.”
