• Belgian Grand Prix

Mixed fortunes for Ferrari duo

Fernando Alonso gained good ground at the start before his retirement © Getty Images

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• Report:
• Clinical Hamilton wins at Spa
  

• Race:
• Belgian Grand Prix

• Championship:
• FIA Formula One World Championship

• Drivers:
• Fernando Alonso
• |
• Felipe Massa

• Teams:
• Ferrari

Ferrari drivers Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso suffered mixed fortunes during an incident packed Belgian Grand Prix.

Fernando Alonso made up good ground from tenth at the start, passing several cars before being punted by Rubens Barrichello at the Bus Stop chicane. Felipe Massa enjoyed a more incident free race and did well to make it up to fourth by the finish in testing conditions for the drivers and teams.

"I think this is a positive result and, given the way the race went and the accidents that put Vettel and Button out of the game, we can even say we were a bit lucky," said Massa. "This weekend, Red Bull and McLaren were stronger than us, but we worked well as a team, making the right choices before and during the race. Now we go to Monza, for our home race: we hope to do well at a track where speed and stability under braking count for a lot. We will continue to fight right to the end, even if the situation in the championship is ever more compromised."

Although Alonso's championship aspirations suffered a big setback with his failure to finish, the Spaniard has not given up his hopes of winning the championship.

"It is very disappointing, because this is a bad result, but it does not mean I have given up on my chances of winning the title," said Alonso. At the start, I immediately made up some places and the signs were that I could have a good race. Then, I found myself in the wrong place at the wrong time, when Rubens could not control his car under braking and crashed into me. I came straight back to the pits to change the tyres and to check the car was alright, when we fitted intermediate tyres, expecting more persistent and harder rain, but that was not the case.

"Yesterday we were hoping for rain, but when it came it was already too late to be of much use to me; on the contrary it prevented me from getting the chance to overtake the cars which would have had to stop to fit the soft tyres. Then I went off the track, when I went over a kerb and that was my race over: a shame even if the points I could have brought home would not have been a lot."

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