Championship leader Fernando Alonso does not hold a grudge against Romain Grosjean for causing a spectacular crash at the Belgian Grand Prix, even though Alonso paid the price for it by dropping crucial points in the title race.
The crash also took out Lewis Hamilton, Sergio Perez and Grosjean himself -- who was given a one-race ban for the incident and misses the Sept. 9 Italian Grand Prix in Monza.
"I am not angry with Grosjean. He definitely didn't do it on purpose. It was a case of me being in the wrong place in the wrong time," said Alonso.
"I think that certain drivers should try and take fewer risks at the start: it’s a bit of a tendency currently in the junior formulae, but it would be better, if right from the start of their career, they got used to respecting more strictly the rules relating to behaviour on track," the Ferrari driver explained pointing out that he had podium within his reach considering teammate Felipe Massa’s fifth place.
Grosjean went for a small gap and clipped Hamilton's McLaren. That sent both cars spinning and led to Grosjean's Lotus flying over Alonso's Ferrari, which then took out Perez's Sauber.
All four drivers escaped injury, although Alonso -- a two-time champion -- was shaken by the incident.
“I’m fine, except my left shoulder hurts a bit: I went to the medical centre immediately after the accident but everything is alright, the pain only comes from the whiplash,” Alonso said. “I had no idea what happened: I had overtaken the two Saubers when I felt as though I had been run into by a train!
“Immediately after the impact, I stayed in the cockpit for a few seconds, but then there was the start of a fire and the foam from the extinguishers meant I couldn’t breathe,” he recalled.
“I tried to tell the team on the radio that I was alright, but I couldn’t. Now I can say that, given the misfortune of having had an accident like this, I am lucky to be able to get back in the car in just a few days. The level of safety of these cars is very high and we saw further proof of that,” he pointed out.
Alonso saw his overall lead trimmed from 42 points to 24 as defending champion Sebastian Vettel finished second behind Jenson Button to get right back into the title race.
"We lost a bit of the advantage we had over Vettel, but we have lost nothing to Hamilton who, given how the McLaren went, is possibly our most dangerous rival," Alonso said. "Now we go to Monza, Ferrari's home race. Traditionally, the Reds are always strong there.
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