For starters, let us praise the Ferrari strategy department for putting Alonso in that 4th place at the end of the race, as the 2-time world champion used his tires perfectly throughout the race to get in front of Red Bull's Mark Webber at the finish line. That being said, even if Petrov pitted only 2 times – as compared to Alonso's 3 visits down the pitlane – the latter caught up with the Russian and may have even tried an attack on 3rd place had he had more laps left in the race.
In the end, the battle between the two never happened, which left the journalists and fans alike wanting for more. However, it didn't seem to bother Alonso much, as he told the media it was important not to lose points to Webber rather than Petrov, whom he doesn't see as a title contender anyway.
“For the journalists it is a very interesting race having Petrov and me, but I was looking in the mirror because I had a title contender behind me, and I was happy to have [Mark] Webber behind me,” said Alonso after the race.
“To finish fourth, I lost points with [Lewis] Hamilton today, I lost points with [Sebastian] Vettel, but the points with Petrov I am not so stressed.”
Additionally, the Spaniard admitted that 4th place was all he could have hoped for this weekend, despite his troublesome start in the race. While starting from 5th place, he dropped to 9th at the first corner after being pushed on the outside by McLaren's Jenson Button.
“It was just an unlucky situation which didn't change too much the race because it made the race more stressful, instead of starting fifth and finishing fourth I was tenth and I finished fourth. I just had to do some extra overtaking,” he added.
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