Abu Dhabi: Two-time World Champion Fernando Alonso is counting on his chances of displacing McLaren's Jenson Button as runner-up in the drivers' standings this season.
"Formula One is an unpredicatable sport and I think I have a realistic chance to overtake him [Button]," Alonso told Gulf News along the sidelines of the special event organised by Shell at the Ferrari World late on Thursday.
"We have a very competitive set of people with Ferrari. [] Jenson has some advantage with the points, but that does not mean that I am not motivated for this challenge," Alonso added.
With the 2011 world champion title already in the hands of Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel, the last two races of the season are bound to see some keen racing for second spot primarily between Button (240 points), Alonso (227 points) and the second Red Bull driver, Mark Webber (221 points). He, however, had a small hiccup in the campaign when his car had a minor crash during the second practice session yesterday.
Now in his second season as an official Ferrari driver, the 30-year-old Alonso has already spent a decade in Formula One after his debut with the Minardi team. 2005 was a turning point for the Spaniard as he won his first world crown, and the very next year Alonso went on to successfully defend his title.
Best season
But the native of Oviedo reckons he has enjoyed his best Formula One season this year. "There have been minor incidents this year, like the accident in Monaco and the jump start in China. But I have worked really hard to improve and set everything right. I am very happy as this has been my best season in Formula One," Alonso admitted.
"The hard work has resulted in nine podium finishes for me, and without the domination of the Red Bull team things could have been a lot more different for me and Ferrari," added the Spanish driver who is also a goodwill ambassador for Unicef.
Last year, Alonso missed out on the opportunity for a third world crown after getting stuck behind Vitaly Petrov to fall short by a mere point to eventual champion Vettel in the Abu Dhabi race. "Maybe we missed because of the three or four points that we did not earn in Valencia and Silverstone. But the loss was certainly not due to our performance in Abu Dhabi," he insisted.
"I love this circuit and it is such a fantastic race in general. I woke up this morning, went to the swimming pool and then looked at the circuit and thought to myself ‘what a wonderful place to race this weekend'," Alonso said.
"It's not going to be easy, but we will be out there trying to be on the podium as this is what is expected and this is what will happen," he added.
Massa and Alonso dub in ‘mixology'
Ferrari drivers Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso were involved in a unique competition at the Ferrari World late on Thursday: preparing a fruit cocktail to illustrate the use of fuel and engine oils.
The Shell-backed initiative dubbed the ‘Cocktail Mixology' saw Massa and Alonso prepare their own fruit cocktails before a select audience at the Ferrari World and present the same for a vote from Shell scientist Ian Albiston. Both the drivers used a base syrup, lime, honey and an assortment of strawberries, mulberries and blueberries to prepare their own concoction in a mixer and then poured it out for tasting and judgement from Albiston.
The end of the challenge saw the Shell scientist judge Alonso's cocktail good enough to win the qualifying, while Massa's mixture took the honours for being better to win on the main race day.
