Alonso Surprised by Gap to Massa

Fernando Alonso told the media several times recently that he is satisfied with his first season at Ferrari, despite failing to secure his 3rd world title in career. One of the reasons he feels good about the recently ended campaign is that he managed to outscore his teammate Felipe Massa in such a dominant manner. Which is probably not something the Brazilian would like to be reminded of very often, we might add.

The Spaniard outqualified Massa 15 out of 19 times this season (one of the 4 times the Brazilian had an advantage over his teammate was in Monaco, when Alonso didn't take part in the qualifying session due to a damaged car), while also scoring 108 more in the overall classification. Under the old points system, that would equal a 43-point gap.

“It's probably the biggest gap that I have ever had to a team-mate and that makes me happy because of the results that I've had over the past years. My level of driving is better than ever and I hope I can keep it up next year,” said Alonso in a recent interview with Onda Cero radio, as reported by Autosport.

Also, another reason why Alonso considered his 2010 campaign a success was because he put it in relation to his 2009 experience with Renault, when he barely scored a podium. Additionally, the progress made by Ferrari itself as compared to last year, when they only scored one win throughout the entire campaign, is another reason to be positive for the future.

“In any case, the balance of my first year with Ferrari is unbeatable. In 2009 I was on the podium once and Ferrari was only average with a car that was not too competitive. In 2010 we started pretty strongly in the first race, we won five grands prix and we scored a good amount of points.”

“Everything has gone better than expected in this great family that is Ferrari. It has been a wonderful year for me,” he concluded.