Fernando Alonso: Nothing compares to this victory

Fernando Alonso has explained how his victory in Sunday’s European Grand Prix was one of the best feelings the Spaniard has felt in terms of emotions, after the Ferrari man stormed from a lowly 11th on the grid to take a memorable victory in front of his adoring home fans.

After surging through the field in the first part of the race, Fernando Alonso eventually rose to the lead when Sebastian Vettel suffered one of his rare mechanical issues. The Red Bull driver was seen slowing on the track on lap 34, only moments after the race had restarted after the one and only safety car period. Initially it was thought Romain Grosjean was going to pose a threat to the Spaniard, however when the Frenchman also retired in similar fashion to Sebastian Vettel, Alonso remained unchallenged as he stormed to his second race victory of the 2012 season.

“It’s difficult to express in words what is the feeling now.” Explained Alonso, in the TV press conference after the race. “Winning a home Grand Prix is something unique – a very special feeling. I had the opportunity to do this in Barcelona in 2006 with Renault and I still remember that day perfectly. And now I did the same here in Valencia, with this special team, Ferrari, with all the grandstand full of red color and Spanish flags. Feeling very proud to be a Spanish sportsman at the moment and winning in Spain this race is probably the best victory I ever felt in terms of emotions. Nothing maybe compares to this one.”

When asked whether the Spaniard was worried as to whether his tyres were going to drop off, in similar fashion to the Canadian Grand Prix when Alonso plummeted in the closing laps, he assured the media that his tyres did in fact go off. However, with the majority of the field suffering from similar tyre wear, Fernando Alonso was able to stay in the lead unlike the Canadian Grand Prix.

“No, they did [go off]. I was not worried. They did. They did, about eight laps from the end.” Continued the 30-year-old. “I said to the team ‘the tyres are finished, we need to do something’. They said: ‘wait one more sector because they are not quicker than you at this moment’. The next sector they were the same as me. So they said: ‘wait one more lap to see how much quicker they are’ and the next lap they were the same time as us. Wait another lap and wait another and then it was three laps from the end and they were in the same lap times and we went until the end. But the tyres were as finished as in Canada but it was for everybody this time.”

Fernando Alonso has now broken the unique trend of a different winner at each race in 2012, becoming the first driver of the season to become a repeat winner. The Spaniard now heads to the British Grand Prix at Silverstone leading the Drivers’ Championship with 111 points. Alonso won around the legendary Silverstone circuit last season for Ferrari, and would undeniably love to do likewise again this year.

Follow me on Twitter - @AndyYoungF1