Alonso Admits Motivation to Beat Hamilton, Schumacher

Fernando Alonso did his first interview as an official Ferrari driver during the Wrooom event at the Madonna di Campiglio ski resort, and obviously the Spaniard was asked plenty of questions about his new teammate and new challenge for the 2010 season. However, the thing that interested the media the most was how he sees Michael Schumacher's return to the sport next season.

Alonso admitted that Schu's return to the series in a great thing for the sport, especially after a “so-and-so season” in 2009, and echoed his former teammate Lewis Hamilton's declarations a few weeks ago that the best drivers will be in the best cars in 2010. In addition, he admitted that everyone at Ferrari feels awkward competing against Schumacher, but nonetheless everyone wants to beat him as a Mercedes racer.

Asked by the journalists about his future battles with Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher – more specifically, who of the two he wants more to beat – Alonso kept the smile on his face and admitted the satisfaction would be just the same in any case.

“I think both, obviously. When you win a race, you don't think of any particular name. But for sure, with Lewis in a McLaren and Schumacher in a Mercedes, I think we'll have great challenges and a good motivation. We want to be the best, and if we want to be the best, we need to be the best drivers in the best cars. We are confident we can do it and I am happy and motivated,” said Alonso.

In addition, he made it very clear that his relationship with Felipe Massa is a great one to begin with, and having two Latin drivers in a Latin team will not affect Ferrari in the upcoming few years. On the contrary, he is grateful for having a driver who has 4 years of experience in a Ferrari car guide him through his first campaign at Maranello.