Fernando Alonso cautious over Formula 1 title hopes

Alonso pleased to win 'strange' race

Fernando Alonso insisted the drivers' championship was still wide open after his win in the Korean Grand Prix saw him take the lead with two races to go. With both Red Bull drivers failing to finish, Alonso now has an 11-point lead over Mark Webber, with McLaren's Lewis Hamilton a further 10 points adrift. But Alonso pointed out everything could change in the course of a single race. "There are four or five contenders still," he said. "As we repeat many times, the key is consistency." But Alonso did acknowledge his fifth victory of the season had been one of the best races of the year for the Scuderia.  "To get both cars on to the podium is a fantastic achievement for Ferrari," he said. "We were competitive all weekend, but with the weather conditions you never know and it was a tricky race to finish. I think it's my first wet race I win, so I'm more than happy." The European Grand Prix of 2007, which Alonso won for McLaren at the Nurburgring, took place in mixed weather conditions. "We know that with the new points system anything can happen in one race. If you don't score, you lose 25 points to one of your main opponents," Alonso said. "Here it was bad luck for Mark and Sebastian. Anything can happen in the next two races, there are four or five contenders still, so as we repeat many times, consistently being on the podium is the key to win the championship. 

"We've been doing well - very concentrated, very focused in the last six or seven races, but in the last two races we cannot forget we need to be on the podium and fighting for the victory." Webber crashed out from second position after running slightly wide and losing control of his car on the kerb at Turn 12 early in the race, while Vettel retired from the lead when his engine expired at the start of lap 46.

Korean Grand Prix Race

1     spain                F Alonso             2:48:20.810
2     great britain     L Hamilton         2:48:35.809
3     brazil               F Massa              2:48:51.678
4     germany          M Schumacher    2:49:00.498
5     poland             R Kubica             2:49:08.544
6     italy                V Liuzzi               2:49:14.381
7     brazil              R Barrichello      2:49:30.067
8     japan              K Kobayashi        2:49:38.699
9     germany         N Heidfeld          2:49:40.917
10   germany         N Hulkenberg     2:49:41.661

F1 Grand Prix Race 2010 results