Whitmarsh praises Alonso's drive in Monza

Alonso was controversially penalised by the Monza stewards for impeding Ferrari's Felipe Massa in qualifying, and the reigning world champion was visibly distraught on Sunday morning, before the race, telling a media conference in his Renault motorhome that he no longer sees Formula One as a sport.

"Who knows what was on the mind of everyone there," Whitmarsh commented, when asked about Alonso's statements.

"I am sure that if you have the pressure you have, when you are trying to win the world championship, and you have rulings like this that go against you, then it seems pretty tough.

"And if he didn't have the passion and the desire to win and the emotion, then he would not be the fantastic driver that he is."

Alonso, who will be joining McLaren next season, started the race from tenth position on the grid, but his weekend was soon over when his Renault engine expired with ten laps to go, while he was running in third, behind McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen and race winner, Ferrari's Michael Schumacher.

And Whitmarsh hailed Alonso's superb drive, given the circumstances: "All credit to him, because if it were not for an engine failure, then he would have come through from a difficult position on the grid with not an optimised strategy to a third place.

"When we see that, it reminds us that against all the mental hard-play that has gone on to him this weekend, he handled himself in qualifying, after the puncture, in a great way; and in the race, it should have been the podium.

"Kimi and Michael were clearly racing each other and ahead of everyone else, but the fact is that Alonso would have come through to a strong third place."