Alonso hopes to feel better in Brazil

In Abu Dhabi, Fernando Alonso clinched second in the F1 championship.

The Ferrari driver couldn’t have put it any better when he described the achievement as: ‘like world champion of the rest.’

But the real battle for Ferrari this season is to either try and take second place in the FIA Formula One constructors championship from Mercedes or at the very least hold on to third and beat Lotus who are finishing the season strongly.

‘The main goal was to beat Mercedes and it was not a good weekend from that perspective and Lotus are getting closer. he told the BBC after the United States Grand Prix.

The Formula One constructors championship is where the prize money is for the teams of F1. The media and the fans might have their attentions taken for the battle of the drivers, but for financial reasons the constructors championship is the big one.

If it hadn’t have been for the battle in the constructors championship would Alonso have raced following his injury in Abu Dhabi?

Alonso of course had been medically cleared to race in the United States Grand Prix, but the two-time former F1 World Champion was open about the fact that he had been struggling.

The Spaniard suffered the back injury after his Ferrari had launched off of the curbs on the exit of the pit-lane as he raced side-by-side with Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne.

The impact as his Ferrari hit the track at 150mph was measured at an astonishing 28G by the on-board medical alarm. Anything above G-force of 18 triggers the alarm and the driver has to go for a mandatory medical check-up.

After visiting the tracks medical centre, Alonso was then forwarded on to hospital for a normal precautionary check requested by the FIA.

He was cleared to race, but in the build up to the Grand Prix in Austin he revealed he had been suffering persistent headaches and lack of sensitivity in his left arm and left leg.

Following his crash in Monaco, Sergio Perez, despite being a rookie at the time withdrew from the 2011 Canadian Grand Prix as he wasn’t feeling right. He had been medically cleared and was praised for his maturity in admitting he had a problem.

Last weekend Alonso insisted that in the car during practice and qualifying he was fine, but admitted that he was still suffering pain during the night and first thing in the mornings and was almost relying on adrenaline to mask the pain.

In the build up to the finale of the Formula One World Championship, Alonso still admits to having problems but believes they will ease over the coming days.

‘I’ll be okay for Brazil. With a few days to relax I should be even better, But I am tired because I physically didn’t have a good preparation for the race. I spent a week in bed with headaches. he told Sky Sports.

‘Hopefully I will feel better in Brazil, less tired, and be able to enjoy the weekend more. But there are still targets with the Constructors’ Championship, so it’s not as if I’ll be racing for fun in Brazil. There will be a lot of stress and pressure for the team, but we’ll try and do as well as we can.’