Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso insisted that the team had done "everything to perfection" in the Brazilian Grand Prix, and admitted that there was little more that he could have done beyond his eventual fourth place finish.
Alonso battled for third place throughout much of the race with McLaren's Jenson Button, passing the British driver early on into turn six.But after switching to the harder compound Pirelli tyre, his Ferrari struggled as per usual, and Button was able to catch and re-pass him for the final podium place.
Despite losing the podium though, after the race Alonso insisted that the result had been as good as Ferrari could have hoped for given their current level of performance.
"Yet another race in which we did everything to perfection, from the start to the strategy and the work of the team," he beamed despite his fourth place.
"The final result is more down to the performance of the others than our own, because we could not have done more."
He added: "Once again today, we got a very good start, putting a nice passing move on Button, but then, on the medium tyres, we no longer had the speed to fend him off.
"I also had a problem with the DRS which would not activate: I was not fighting closely with other drivers, but it would certainly have helped me gain a few tenths while overtaking."
He also concluded that Ferrari's season had not been good enough, but insisted that he was still "proud" of Ferrari's efforts throughout the season.
"This grand prix produced an accurate reflection of the season: we have almost always done our maximum, fighting for a podium finish in a car that was not as good as the top two," he lamented.
"If I had to score our performance, I can but repeat what president Montezemolo said, giving us something between a five and six, but all the same I am proud of what the team was able to do.
"We need a car that is about five or six tenths quicker: achieving that won't be a walk in the park, but I have every confidence in our engineers and in a team that dominated the last decade in Formula One and holds every possible record in this sport."
His team mate Felipe Massa came home in fifth place, to conclude a disappointing 2011 campaign, and afterwards he admitted that he had just not been comfortable in the car all weekend.
"It was a difficult race at the end of a weekend that was not the best from a technical point of view," he mused, adding that a puncture from qualifying had ruined his strategy in the race.
"We never managed to find the right balance and then came the sting in the tail of the puncture we discovered yesterday, which robbed me of a set of softs for the race and thus meant I had to make only two stops."
He added: "Sure, I would have liked to celebrate my 100th grand prix with Ferrari with a much different result, but I have to accept the way things went.
"It's been a difficult year for me and the team and now we can turn the page. We must work on improving the car and I will do all I can never to have such a disappointing season again."
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