Alonso: Team comes first!

By role
May 25 2004

Fernando Alonso was quite upset after the Monaco Grand Prix for being taken out of the race by the car of Ralf Schumacher. A day later he was a bit calmer though still upset to not having finished the race and help his team score more points. He was quite happy, however, about Jarno Trulli’s win.

The Renault F1 official page interviewed the Spaniard a day after the race:

How are you today Fernando?
Good, thanks! As you will have seen, I was furious yesterday after my accident, but I’m now trying not to think about it, and to concentrate on the next race. There’s no point complaining about what happened, it’s in the past: ‘ifs’ don’t count in motor racing…

How was the race shaping up when you retired?
I was very competitive. I got a good start and managed to get into second spot, ahead of the BARs. I was following Jarno and waiting for the race to unfold. I was only a few seconds behind after forty laps, and we don’t know what might have happened. My times were competitive, I was gaining a few tenths a lap… then everything was over very suddenly.

Did the impact leave you shaken?
There was a point when I knew it was inevitable I would crash: the Tunnel is the fastest point on the circuit at Monaco, and it’s never nice to hit the wall at more than 250 kph. However, I was angry more than anything else at that point.

On a more positive note, the team won its first race of the season…
Exactly. Since last year, Jarno and I have often said that the team comes first. We have proved that on numerous occasions. When I won in Budapest last year, Jarno was one of the first people to congratulate me, and he was genuinely happy. Today, it’s the other way round. Of course I would have liked to finish the race and help the team score 18 points yesterday, but to see Jarno take the flag in the lead was a special moment for everybody. He deserves his win.

What’s the next step for you?
I will heading to Germany and the Nürburgring on Thursday. I am looking forward to the race: the improvements to the R24 for Monaco seemed a good step, but it is a very unique circuit. We are waiting for the next race to get a more precise idea of how much progress we have made. But I’m feeling confident.