Q & A with Fernando Alonso

Fernando Alonso: Yes, obviously we fight always with all the teams to go into Q3 and we managed to put the car in Q3 today. After that, I think Ferrari and McLaren are unbeatable in this part of the championship so the top four positions are already out of the question. So we fight for fifth, sixth or seventh.

Today we had sixth and we have to be happy, and it is a good position to start the race. It is more important to take the points, especially with Toyota being a little bit behind this weekend. It is the main goal for the race, score as many points as possible and hopefully Toyota will not score too much.

Q. Has it been difficult setting the car up this weekend with the changing track conditions?

FA: Not too much because we were not too worried about the set-up on Saturday morning. The free practice was damp at the beginning and then damp at the end and we did not panic so we stay more or less with the set-up, the same as Friday. We were quite happy and we arrived in qualifying with no big problems.

Q. At the start where is the bigger chance to make positions - into La Source or the long straight into Les Combes?

FA: Both. If you have a good start, the first corner is difficult because normally there are two lines - one on the inside and one on the outside. It is always wheel-to-wheel into the first corner for the first six or seven positions, so you need to choose the outside or the inside depending on how you started and how it looks with your opponents.

Then, after that, of course there is 20 seconds full throttle where you take a huge slipstream and you have the possibility to overtake or be overtaken. So you need to attack and defend at the same time because you will have one car very close in front of you and one car very close behind you. So you need to think about what is the best thing to do.

Q. Do you think your experience could make a big difference?

FA: It is a track, as we said in the press conference on Thursday, where a driver can make more of a difference than at Valencia for example - which was just brake and throttle. Here there are good challenging corners and especially if it is damp, or like Friday when the white lines and the kerbs were wet and the rest of the track was dry, if you have a good day and risk a bit with no accident then you can make up some good time. But there is always the possibility to finish the race in the wall.

Q. What is your main worry for the race?

FA: One is the start, because we have people - especially Kubica - where we know the starts are very, very good for BMW. So that is the first worry. Then we will see about our pace because qualifying has been good sometimes in this championship and then the race pace is a little bit down, so we need to be quick all through the race and hopefully keep this sixth position.

Q. Do you prefer it to be dry or wet?

FA: I prefer maybe variable conditions - start with dry, then wet for 10 laps and then dry again. Races like that can make it very interesting. Maybe you are completely wrong with your decisions and you finish 15th but at least there is something to do. If not, it will be maybe a boring race.