Q & A with Fernando Alonso

Fernando Alonso: Not really. It was difficult for everybody and it was impossible to take something out of today. In terms of the driver it is always good to do some laps as Suzuka is a very difficult circuit. We found the right lines again, to set up the ride heights and the pressures, but nothing to the car properly. Tomorrow we start that.

Q. Do you see it as a straight Renault/Ferrari fight here, or can McLaren do something?

FA: I think there will be more teams. McLaren and Honda can do well here, and also Toyota always does well here in Japan. So I don't think it will be only Ferrari and Renault. I think for the race it will be closer fight between the two teams, but I think especially for tomorrow's qualifying it will be more people into the first places.

Q. What is the mood like in the team after yesterday's press conference?

FA: Fantastic! Better than ever! What you didn't understand yesterday was that I felt it was my opinion, and my feeling. I said that I understood completely the position of the team and I totally agree. I also said every single person in the team is focused on winning the world championship but no one listened to that. You take what you think is important. It is fantastic.

With Fisichella as well we have a fantastic feeling. We never had any problems and because my opinion and my feeling after China was that. It was probably against the team but not against Fisichella. We do what we have to do, what the team said to us to do it.

Q. You had a meeting with Flavio yesterday? Is that correct?

FA: We have a meeting every Thursday or Friday.

Q. Was that just about China?

FA: No, we talked just about Japan and Brazil. We try to concentrate. We try to be as focused as were in China and on Friday everything went well, on Saturday we were first and second and on Sunday we had some unlucky parts of the race. What the aim of the team and what Flavio tried to motivate Fisi and me is to repeat the same weekend. Doing the same again, going as hard as we can always and try to beat Ferrari - especially on Sunday.

Q. You drove at Fuji, how was it?

FA: Compared to Suzuka it will be always difficult to improve the feelings and to like it. Mount Fuji is a fantastic track and with probably much better facilities than here in Suzuka in terms of the paddock and things like that. But the track itself, obviously I prefer Suzuka. It was a little bit too slow with a very long straight. It will be difficult for the driver I think.

Q. A few of the other Michelin runners were complaining about graining. What was your experience?

FA: For me it was okay. But I think I didn't get the maximum from the tyres because I had traffic on the first two laps. For the graining this helps a lot when you don't push the tyre to the limit in the first moment. So I think it is also normal conditions for graining - when it is damp, the circuit starts to dry up and it is too cold. You push the tyre and then normally you have graining. So this will come to us with the rubber down. If it rains tonight again it will be more of a problem but we will see.

Q. Some people think that you are better at handling the pressure of the title battle than Michael. What do you think?

FA: I don't think so. I think we are all the same, all professional. Sometimes things go well and other times not, everything goes wrong. It is difficult to do anything. But what we can say for sure is that Michael and me will do 110 percent because we both want to win the title.

It is the same with the teams. I think Renault and Ferrari are very close fighting. The chances are 50/50 so there is no more time to think and be conservative. All the teams and drivers now, Ferrari and Renault, Michael and me, we will do the absolute maximum we can. And the pressure at the end counts for nothing if you do the maximum.

Q. What makes you a better sportsman. Dominating in a good car or bouncing back from disappointment?

FA: I don't know. I think for F1 especially you need the talent, for sure, to drive the car as quick as you can. And you need to be very strong mentally and psychologically. Every race is a new challenge and a completely new race, different to the others, with a different approach, different results on Friday and Saturday, and you need to stay very, very strong to motivate yourself every minute.