• Italian Grand Prix

Webber enjoys Alonso battle

Mark Webber could not find a way back past Fernando Alonso, eventually finishing 0.9s behind © Sutton Images

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Mark Webber said he enjoyed fighting with Fernando Alonso during the Italian Grand Prix.

Having never finished on the podium before at Monza, Webber came home in third place having been putting pressure on Alonso in the final stages of the race. Alonso had earlier overtaken him at the Roggia chicane with a strong move around the outside but despite losing out on second place Webber said the battle was a highlight.

"It was good to have a clean weekend from start to finish and fight for a top position," Webber said. "The start was pretty good but both Sebastian [Vettel] and I compared to the Ferraris were not as strong. I was not super happy on the hard tyre but that's the way it was; Fernando was a bit quicker and we had a good little battle at the second chicane.

"It was a good battle with Fernando on the other tyre. I tried everything but yeah, we had to nurse the gearbox a little bit but in the end second was the maximum, we finished third but we pushed Fernando all the way. It's always a good battle racing Fernando and I've got to be very, very happy with it; we pushed as hard as we could and I'm satisfied with today's result."

One area where Webber wasn't happy though was with the booing of Vettel on the podium.

"I'm very happy to be on the podium here at Monza; it's one of the most famous ones in the world. It's up there with Monte Carlo and a few other signature events. Brilliant to experience that, even if the atmosphere I was not really a fan of, to be honest; Sebastian won the race and the atmosphere is not completely correct but anyway, that's their choice."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.