Q & A with Fernando Alonso

Fernando Alonso: Well, what happened was that there was a discussion between two drivers. Robert (Doornbos) and me had something that happens at every race. There was no accident, no yellow flags and no touching of the cars. We had no problems at all. And that was it.

The second problem was the yellow flag. The marshal decided to put a yellow flag for 20 seconds only on the in lap. We don't understand why, and I was overtaking Jarno Trulli and the angle to see the marshal was impossible coming from Jarno's car.

It was strange because the track was clear on the timing page and also, two or three laps before that yellow flag for 20 seconds, so both these things got me the penalty for today.

And what I think about this? It is a normal thing for 99 percent of the people. This is the first time in history that you get a penalty to have discussions with another driver on one corner. And that is it.

Q. What about today? There were no television pictures of Michael Schumacher overtaking you and Robert Kubica. Can you tell us what happened, and what you think about his penalty?

FA: Well. I don't know what happened. I only saw on television what happened afterwards. I was in the car with the red flag and suddenly I saw one car on the outside of the corner overtaking all of the group.

After that, I was surprised for the red flag and as for the penalty - it is strange that it is the same one as I got for having a discussion with no touching and no incidents.

Q. There was a suggestion from the Ferrari camp that you slowed down too much. Is that true?

FA: For sure that is what they have to say. It is obviously not true. All the stewards they have all the information and all the data. They study a lot before making a decision, and if I slowed down then you would see clearly. When you overtake someone on the outside of one car, not only one car but two cars, it is because you decided to do it.

Q. How much of a relief to you was it that Michael got the penalty?

FA: Nothing at all. At the end of the day I don't care what the others are doing. I only know that my car is competitive here. We were P2 in both qualifying sessions and we were ready to fight for the pole and especially with a good pace in tomorrow's race. We missed this opportunity to win this race with a surprising decision. If Michael is behind or not, it is not very important. It is only the frustration to not be in your normal position.

Q. You still start 15th tomorrow and Michael will start 11th. What do you think is possible?

FA: It is difficult to know. Hungary we know is difficult to overtake and it is not easy to recover positions. So starting 15th to get points or to get seventh place, sixth place, means overtaking 10 or 11 cars. That is a lot and more than this will be impossible tomorrow. I think the target is to be top six or seven in the race and that is what we have to fight for.

Q. Can you play around with a different strategy here?

FA: We should play with a fuel strategy but it will not be easy. We are dominated by the tyres performance and the tyre (performance) drop off, so if you are too brave with the fuel then maybe you destroy the tyres in a couple of laps if you put heavy fuel, or if you do a strange strategy.

So I think we need to compromise our strategy between the fuel and the tyres and the pace we have. At the end of the race we will see what is the result. But it will not be an easy race for the strategy.

Q. When you analyse the performance of the tyres, do you think you will be better off than the opposition?

FA: It is quite confusing. No one did a normal long run so far this weekend so tomorrow will be the first opportunity to see all of us in the same conditions. So I think we have to wait and see. It seems that the tyre looks better on our car when you see from the outside than the Bridgestone.

But even if their tyre seems quite bad they are still very quick as we saw with Felipe Massa today during the fuel burning laps (in qualifying). They were very quick. I expect Ferrari to be very competitive tomorrow and I hope us as well.

Q. What did you say to the team when Michael passed you?

FA: Nothing. They say come in, it was the last corner, and Michael came in front of us so it was a surprise for all the team and for me as well.

Q. Did you know straight away that he was going to get a penalty?

FA: No. Because I didn't know if that was for a strange reason or maybe sometimes Charlie let the cars pass if they have a temperature problem, so at that point I did not know anything.

Q. With penalties being handed down to both the title contenders, some people are interpreting it as too much pressure. Is the pressure now increasing because of the championship?

FA: For me the pressure is the same. I am surprised by the decisions we have got in the last two or three races towards Renault and me, but hopefully it is finished by the next race and we can race with our car and drivers without any problem.