Alonso happy to help Massa take title 16 Oct 2008
Renault’s Fernando Alonso has admitted he would prefer Ferrari’s Felipe Massa or BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica win the 2008 title, rather than his former McLaren team mate Lewis Hamilton.
Speaking in Thursday’s press conference at the Chinese Grand Prix, Alonso was asked to clarify comments attributed to him by Spanish media in which he suggested he would do all he could to help Massa’s title bid.
“First of all we need to have a competitive, hard car here in Shanghai and Brazil to be fighting with McLaren and Ferrari,” said Alonso, winner of the last two rounds in Singapore and Japan.
“If we do that and Felipe wins the race and I can be second or third I will be happy to help Felipe to take as many points as possible and this is the only approach."
However, Alonso also moved to play down his potential role in deciding the championship, confessing that the man he would most like to see win would be outsider Kubica.
"I don’t think that I will be a key part of the championship. Whatever driver wins will win because he won the last two races or did a better job than the other one, so that’s all,” he added. “You can take whatever you can from my comment but it is very simple.
"My best relationship for example is with Robert. I would like to see him winning the championship but I know this is quite difficult because I think the performance etc it will be difficult to recover 12 points. I will do my own race but after all, when you finish the race and see the results, you prefer some drivers to win or some teams to win compared to others.”
Asked to comment on Alonso’s apparent allegiance towards his title rivals, championship leader Hamilton said: “Honestly, I don’t have an opinion on it. I focus on my job and that’s the most important thing. I think we can be competitive this weekend and challenge for points and try to win. What the others do is none of my business.”
