Happy Alonso laments poor start

The McLaren driver was overtaken by both the BMWs of Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld, and the Spaniard spent several laps behind the German driver.

When he finally moved ahead of Heidfeld, Alonso was already out of contention for victory and had to settle for a distant third place.

"For sure the start did not go as we planned and to be overtaken by two cars and find yourself sixth is not great," said Alonso. "And the race is a little bit over from that time.

"Also I was following Nick for 17 laps and as Kimi said these days it is difficult to overtake. You need to wait for a mistake from car in front. Nick was very consistent and driving very well. I was lucky to overtake him and then my race started.

"I was 30 seconds behind at that point. I kept my pace to be consistent and wait for the miracle that only happened with Hamilton and I only took that place for the podium but third is not the best result for the weekend."

"Our start is probably not the best. The BMWs start really well every weekend. For us it is true that at the beginning of the season we had good starts: I remember Malaysia, we are not making worse starts, we keep improving, but for sure the Ferraris made a step forward bigger than us."

Alonso benefited from Lewis Hamilton's tyre failure to close the gap to the Briton, the world champion now five points behind the rookie, fifth today.

The race, however, was dominated by the Ferraris, with Felipe Massa leading Kimi Raikkonen home. Alonso finished 26 seconds behind, and he believes the Italian squad are a step ahead.

"I think it is the car to be honest," said Alonso of the gap to Ferrari. "I think the tyres we found the prime very, very similar compared to the option, slightly better and more consistent. It is just a car difference.

"More or less we knew that we come from some races where we saw their potential. At Magny-Cours they were very, very quick, Silverstone very quick again. The only race that we were back on pace was Hungary and that was no surprise with that type of circuit, it was like Monaco.

"On a normal circuit like Turkey they were on top again and we know we need to improve but the next race we will be better."

Alonso, celebrating his 100th Grand Prix, admitted he was pleased with the result, and he reckons is still all to play for in the championship.

"The 100th GP I felt good and I feel good now," he said. "I feel happy especially for the result, that was the best news from th weekend. Finishing on the podium is always a nice feeling. I will not remember all my life this Grand Prix but it has been quite good in the end.

"My chances for the title, they are still there for everybody, there are two McLaren drivers and two Ferrari drivers with possibilities to win the title. It depends on the weekends, how lucky you are. With five races to go the better one, the luckier one will win again."