» Alonso: “The hardest race of my life”

Fernando Alonso described the Malaysian Grand Prix as one of the toughest he has encountered after having to manager transmission issues for the duration of the race.

The Spaniard’s Ferrari lost its clutch on the formation lap.

He was forced to use a heel-toe driving technique in order to slow his Ferrari F10 under braking.

In spite of the handicap, Alonso ran at a very good pace during the race and was challenging Jenson Button’s McLaren for 8th place (pictured) when his engine let go with just two laps to run.

The loss of ninth place and the two points that went with it were enough to see Fernando lose the championship lead to his Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa, who now leads by two points with Alonso in second place.

"On the formation lap my gearbox broke and I had no clutch during the race. 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 we were going to get a few points, which in the end was not possible because of the engine.

"But if the gearbox and then the engine are going to break, it’s better than in happens when you are ninth than when you are leading and you lose 25 points."

[Original image via Sutton Images]