Saturday at Monza actually 'went well'

(GMM) Fernando Alonso on Saturday denied qualifying at Monza had left him furious and his relationship with Ferrari in tatters.

Reports said the Spaniard calling his Italian colleagues "idiots" after the bungled slipstreaming with teammate Felipe Massa might be the last straw for Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo.

But Alonso was putting on a brave face, saying qualifying at Monza actually "went well considering how the last qualifyings were".

"It was a good Saturday," he is quoted by the Spanish sports newspaper AS.

"The car has become competitive again because in recent weeks we were far behind.

"We can no longer have a funeral every Saturday, because there is a car (Red Bull) that is first and second. Hulkenberg (third) is a surprise.

"We cannot compete with Red Bull — we have not done so all weekend, but the race is tomorrow and we will try to be as high as possible.

"I will try to win if Vettel does not go away in the first part of the race — and there is a storm forecast for the afternoon," added Alonso.

The Spaniard also played down being outqualified by his teammate Massa.

"You talk about it, but I think that in 100 grands prix, I was ahead maybe 82 times," he told Antena 3 television.