Alonso to finish where he started

By role
October 19 2004

Renault F1 driver Fernando Alonso is looking forward to the Brazilian Grand Prix and he hopes to end the season in the same fashion it started, with a podium finish!

Alonso expects to be fast at Brazil:

"I think we will be fast there. The car needs to be efficient aerodynamically, because we run quite low levels of downforce, and you also need good traction in the slow corners of the middle sector, and the out of the final corner to protect your position along the straight. These are areas in which the R24 is strong and we will also have some new parts on the car for the final race. We should be optimistic for the final race." He said.

The Spaniard is fully aware that he will need perfect fitness conditions:

"The big challenge is in terms of fitness. Physically, it is another hard circuit - like Suzuka was. It runs anti-clockwise, there are lots of bumps and also it is at altitude. All those factors combine to make Brazil one of the physically toughest circuits of the season. Your neck can get very tired because the fast corners are all left-handers, so we work on that area in training to make sure I can attack all the way through the race, from start to finish." He added.

Nevertheless he hopes to finish the season with the same good result that he started at Australia:

"It has been a long season but the whole team is very motivated to do well in Brazil and show everybody what we are capable of. The results have not been so good in recent races but I feel that I have been driving to the maximum and if the performance of the car is where we hope, then we can be very competitive. In Japan, we didn't do well enough in qualifying to fight at the front in the race, but I will be going for the podium in Brazil. That was how we started the year in Australia and it would be great to do it again at Interlagos." He concluded.