Alonso happy despite no victory

Alonso finished in second place at the Imola race despite looking faster than Schumacher for a big part of the race, especially when the Ferrari driver began to struggle with his tyres after his first pitstop.

But despite running less than a second behind Schumacher, Alonso was unable to get past the German and had to settle for second. Alonso had won last year's race in similar fashion, holding off Schumacher's attacks during the final laps of the event.

Having extended his lead in the championship to 15 points after the first four races of the season, Alonso was pleased with the result.

"As Michael said, it was difficult to overtake, almost impossible unless you make a mistake," said Alonso. "I waited for an opportunity but it didn't come. But I am happy. We qualified with more fuel than the others and it was the right thing to do.

"This eight points is better for me. I got some more points for the championship so championship wise it is a good result."

Renault decided to bring Alonso's second pitstop forward in order to pass Schumacher, who was lapping around two seconds off the pace. The move, however, did not pay off and Alonso still emerged behind his rival once both had pitted.

The Spanish driver wondered after the race if keeping his normal strategy would have not given him victory.

"The second pitstop came earlier to try and overtake Michael," said Alonso. "Maybe if we had waited until my normal pitstop it would have worked better."