Fernando Alonso knows the team had the car to win in Shanghai. The decision to change the front intermediate tyres in the first stop and then losing ten second in his second stop due to the nut falling out of the wheel gun cost Alonso another ten seconds and at that moment the chance of victory was gone. Alonso remains upbeat despite the loss.

Fernando, how was your race? “As expected, we were very quick in the wet and showed it in the first stint. I built a comfortable lead of nearly 20 seconds and started to manage the gap. Then the track started drying…”

Why did you lose performance after your first stop? “We decided to change the front tyres and in hindsight, that was a mistake. In fact, the track had almost completely dried and it would have been better to use worn tyres which had very little tread in order to have more grip. Schumacher and Giancarlo kept the same set of tyres, and caught me up. They got past without any problems. My tyres finally started working after eight or nine laps, and my lap-times were competitive again.”

Do you regret the decision to change the tyres? “We cannot say that. The left front was very worn so we decided not to take too many risks with it.”

After that, did you change to dry tyres at the right time? “Yes I think so. We were among the first people to do it and it was a gamble to try and catch up Schumacher. But we didn’t have the miracle today.”