Fernando Alonso called Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix "the toughest race of my life" after he suffered gearbox and then engine problems.
Double world champion hampered by gearbox and engine problems
Fernando Alonso called Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix "the toughest race of my life" after he suffered first gearbox and then engine problems at Sepang.
Starting 19th on the grid after he and Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa fell foul of the wet conditions in qualifying, Alonso climbed as high as fifth in the race.
However, he later revealed that he did so without the use of his car's clutch - the Spaniard's afternoon going from bad to worse two laps from the finish when, having engaged in a duel with world champion Jenson Button, he suffered an engine failure.
"Right from the start things went wrong," the double world champion lamented. "On the formation lap, my gearbox broke, and I had no clutch during the race.
"So I had to brake in a weird way. I had to first gear down and then push the throttle hard so it would engage the gear for that corner.
"So it was probably the hardest race of my whole life in terms of driving, because I had to improvise for every corner.
"But even so I thought we were going to get a few points, which in the end was not possible, because of the engine.
"So, it has been a very tough weekend. Sometimes it's us, sometimes it's someone else. You have to take the opportunities when they come along."
With Massa eventually coming home seventh behind race winner Sebastian Vettel, the result means that Alonso has dropped to joint second in the standings alongside Vettel but two points behind his team-mate.
Massa added: "It was a long and tough race, but we had a good reward, though it is a pity for Fernando that he could not finish and score points."
