• Brazilian Grand Prix

Alonso 'extremely happy' to take third

Fernando Alonso passed Lewis Hamilton and Nico Hulkenberg to take third © Getty Images

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• Report:
• Vettel leads Red Bull 1-2 to seal constructors' title
  

• Race:
• Brazilian Grand Prix

• Championship:
• FIA Formula One World Championship

• Drivers:
• Fernando Alonso

• Teams:
• Ferrari

Fernando Alonso said he is "extremely happy" to head to the final round of the championship in the lead of the drivers' championship after finishing third at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Alonso moved up from fifth on the grid to third in the opening laps and secured 15 points for his title campaign, meaning he heads to Abu Dhabi with an eight-point lead over Mark Webber. He said he had not expected to wrap up the championship at Interlagos and was looking forward to Abu Dhabi next weekend.

"We knew that it was not an easy thing to do but in terms of points we are extremely happy," he said. "We will see what happens in Abu Dhabi with the drivers' championship, I think it's now very open, and now with a win for Sebastian [Vettel] he is also a very strong contender. So we will see what we can do in Abu Dhabi and we will see the result of a very exciting championship."

He said he was on a par with the Red Bulls in terms of race pace but could not make up for the time he lost at the start.

"I think we lost too much ground in the first laps of the race, trying to overtake Hamilton and then Hulkenberg," he added. "So those 10 or 12 seconds we lost at the start to the Red Bulls were impossible to make up. We were very close on race pace, maybe one tenth or two tenths a lap faster on some laps and one or two tenths slower on other laps.

"When you lose ten seconds it is probably over, but then we had a little chance with the safety car but we found ourselves in the wrong position again with seven cars between us and the gap again was six or seven seconds off the Red Bull, so it was over for the second time. But overall a good race for us, being on the podium and overtaking Hamilton and Hulkenberg."

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