• Belgian Grand Prix

Alonso happy with recovery to second

ESPN Staff
August 25, 2013 « Vettel surprised by Red Bull's dominance | Mercedes third quickest - Hamilton »
Fernando Alonso fell 46 points behind Sebastian Vettel at Spa © Associated Press
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Fenando Alonso said second place in the Belgian Grand Prix was a good recovery for Ferrari but admits he was "nowhere near" Sebastian Vettel.

Vettel won comfortably after taking the lead on the opening lap, but Alonso made another impressive start to move up from ninth on the grid to fifth place by the end of the first sector. He continued to make progress up in to second place but Alonso admitted there was no way he could challenge Vettel.

"We had to recover some places because we were not OK yesterday," Alonso said. "Everything went OK from the start and then the car had the speed to overtake some cars. It was a little bit boring after we got in to second place because we were nowhere near Sebastian and no big threat from behind."

Looking ahead to the next race in Italy, Alonso acknowledged there would be more pressure on Ferrari to fight for victory.

"It's an important weekend for us, for the team and last year we were close to repeating the victory that we had in 2010. So we arrive fully motivated again and in Monza we would like to give some smiles and some satisfaction to the Tifosi and we will try our best."

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