Abu Dhabi: Front-runner and two-time world champion Fernando Alonso of Ferrari said even if he loses the title race on Sunday he will long remember the 2010 championship while another former champion Lewis Hamilton of McLaren said he has nothing to lose.
When the title contenders were asked on how they would react to lose out on the final day, Alonso said, "Obviously, you feel sad if you lose in the last moment. In my case, I will not really have anything to be disappointed about in 2010. The last two years I was fighting to be third most of the times."
Alonso, who takes an eight-point lead into the final race at the Yas Marina Circuit said: "Ferrari had a tough year in 2009 as well, so this first year of the relationship we are fighting for the world championship in the last race of the championship against two Red Bulls who are dominating by far the season in terms of speed."
Great memory
"So overall I think it doesn't matter on Sunday. It will be a great memory of 2010 to have challenged," the Spaniard said.
Commenting on the strengths of his car, Alonso said, "Well, I think we don't have the cornering speed of Red Bull and maybe we don't have the straight line speed of McLaren. We are not the best in the straight line, we are not the best in the corners, but in general overall we are always quite competitive. We can adapt to any circuit in a good way, so I feel relatively confident for the performance of the car but let's see how it is going."
The Ferrari driver said he would decide what approach to adopt only on Sunday depending on his grid position.
"I think we will still see how Friday goes, how Saturday goes as to how we approach the race on Sunday. I think it will depend on how the weekend is going. We will change the tactics depending on how competitive we are or which positions we are," Alonso said.
Competition
McLaren's Hamilton, who is 24 points off the leader with Red Bull dup Mark Webber and Sebastien Vettel also ahead, said, "For me, I have nothing to lose. The guys in front of me have everything to lose, so for me I am going to be flat out as always."
"They have got generally faster cars than me but that doesn't mean that we cannot fight for a win. Obviously I have to win this race. That's what we plan to do," said the Briton, whose McLaren teammate and defending champion's Jenson Button saw his hopes end in Brazil.
"We are in quite a strong position with engines. Mercedes have done a great job. We have worked very hard over the last few years with the engines, so we have been very, very fortunate this year.
"The reliability has been fantastic. We have got quite a fresh engine that hasn't done many miles, so hopefully in a slightly better position than the guys in front," warned Hamilton.
Source: http://gulfnews.com