Alonso upbeat despite retirement
Fernando Alonso admitted he was left upbeat after the Spanish Grand Prix, despite retiring from the race with an engine failure
The Renault driver, who had qualified on the front row for the first time this season, managed to follow the Ferraris during the first part of the race and was running strongly after making his first pitstop.
Much to the dismay of his local fans, however, the Spaniard's day came to an end on lap 35, when his Renault engine gave up.
Despite that, Alonso was encouraged by Renault's resurgence.
"Sometimes it happens to us, and other times it happens to the others," the Spaniard told reporters after his retirement.
"Unfortunately it was in my home grand prix, but in the end I have a good feeling because at least we were fighting with the top cars when in the first races we were saw far we couldn't even see them."
Despite running in third place before his first pitstop, Alonso said the podium was out of reach, and he reckons he would have finished around sixth place.
"It was going fine. It was just what we expected," he said. "The podium was impossible. We were going to fight with Kovalainen and Heidfeld for sixth or seventh place as expected.
"But at least I was running with them, you could see them and even touch them. This is the way to go and I'm left with a good feeling.
"Massa stopped two laps after me, so it's not like he had a lot more fuel, so yesterday's qualifying was pretty realistic. It's a shame to break down, but I'm left with a great feeling."
His teammate Nelsinho Piquet had a day to forget and retired after crashing with Sebastien Bourdai's Toro Rosso.
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