Alonso quizzed on McLaren role

Fernando Alonso again defended his position at McLaren after the Spaniard was denied pole position by team-mate Lewis Hamilton in the dying moments of an exciting qualifying session for the Japanese Grand Prix.

Alonso has been under fire recently after it was revealed during the FIA hearing into the Ferrari spying row that he threatened to expose incriminating e-mail evidence after a disagreement with boss Ron Dennis at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Dennis also admitted the pair had not been on speaking terms during the inquest, although they have since denied that is still the case, while Hamilton has been critical of the 26-year-old’s recent behaviour on and off the track.

Alonso departed previous employers Renault in acrimonious circumstances when he insisted he “felt alone” towards the end of last season after announcing his switch to McLaren.

But, when asked if he felt similarly frozen out at McLaren, he emphatically answered: “No.”

And the double world champion was also upbeat about his chances of victory in the first Grand Prix at the Fuji Speedway in 30 years despite seeing championship leader Hamilton’s last-gasp effort at the end of a wet qualifying session knock him into second place.

He also refused to rule out Ferrari duo Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa, who will start third and fourth respectively, particularly as he expects them to have a significant advantage down the 1.5km start-finish straight, the longest in Formula One.

“Being on the first row is better, there are possibilities and a better chance to do a good first lap,” Alonso said.

“But we also know that the Ferraris got off the grid better than us over the last couple of races so it won’t be easy.

“They are also normally quicker than us at the end of the straights in all the races so the aim is to do a good last sector, to do the last two corners quick enough to open a gap so that it is impossible to overtake on the straight.”

Alonso also insisted he was satisfied with a qualifying strategy that saw him only able to change tyres once in the crucial last stint.

“We planned to only do one pitstop in the session and I think it worked quite well.

“With a new set of tyres you maybe have more confidence and push a bit more but I didn’t have any more sets of tyres after using two in Qualifying Two so it was not a possibility.

“But we made the best of the possibilities we had and I was happy with the decision.”

Raikkonen still retains an outside hope of snatching the title from under the noses of the two McLaren drivers as he lies 13 points behind Hamilton with three races remaining.

A delayed morning practice session eventually lasted just four minutes before being abandoned due to fog and persistent drizzle and the Finn did not even get chance to get out on track.

That meant he approached qualifying with little idea of the challenge the latest addition to the Formula One calendar would present in the wet although he still felt it did not hinder his chances.

“We were a bit slow out of the box,” he said.

“Well, not too slow but they closed the circuit so quickly that we didn’t even manage to get into the pit lane!

“But I think one lap wouldn’t have made much difference. The car felt good. Of course the first few laps are about finding the lines and it gets better when you do more laps, but it was good.

“I could probably have got a better grid position but I came up against a bit of traffic and also had a small problem with the gearbox which cost me precious time.”

Raikkonen insisted he was unconcerned about the potential of more rain during tomorrow’s race.

“It would be nice to have it dry or wet but not in between,” he added.

“There’s more luck involved then.

“But we should have a good car whatever the weather conditions and it’s going to be a tight race.”