“It's difficult to believe. The team did a great job to improve the car and we are right now behind Ferrari and McLaren and this is something completely amazing', said an enthusiastic Alonso after the race, while also admitting that the start of the race was decisive in his quest for his second win of the season.
“The start was probably the most exciting part of the race for sure, I saw the people in front of me going quite aggressive into Turn 1. Even myself I locked the front tires and went a little bit wide. These cold tires surprised us, we locked up and everyone went long. I took the benefit of that and put myself behind Robert and from this point the race was easier. From then we had some free air. The car was very, very nice to drive again, I pulled a nice gap and maybe part of the victory was because of the second stint”, continued the Renault driver.
Alonso, who is expected to make his decision about his 2009 team after the Brazilian Grand Prix, praised his team's efforts to close the gap on rivals Ferrari and McLaren and did not rule out a third success in the dying rounds of this season.
“We concentrate to work on those areas and now the results are coming with improvements in the season. I am very happy and very proud of my team to have the key to improve all the problems we had. It is a great job from everybody in the factory”, concluded the Spaniard.
Thanks to his win in Japan, Alonso has now secured his 7th place in the overall standings with 48 points, only 3 points behind Finland's Heikki Kovalainen. Also, Renault are more than likely going to finish 4th in the manufacturers' classification, sitting 16 points clear of rivals Toyota with two races to go.
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