Formula One news

Alonso - impossible to pass Schumi

Fernando Alonso had to make do with second place in this afternoon's San Marino Grand Prix despite being significantly faster than a wounded Michael Schumacher in the second and third stints of the race.

"I caught up with Michael quite quickly but it's difficult - almost impossible to overtake here if there's no mistake from the other driver," Alonso said. "Michael didn't make any mistake and I couldn't get past. But I'm happy, we qualified with a lot more fuel and we had good pace and in normal circumstances we would win."

Renault tried pitting early to avoid any more delay from Schumacher during the second round of pit stops but it was not to be as Alonso struggled on his out lap and Schumacher wrenched a decent in-lap before pitting next time round.

"We tried to pit early to pass Michael at the second stop and it didn't work - maybe it did the opposite and we should have waited until my normal pit stop time," Alonso said. "But it's another eight points and I'm happy."

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