Formula 1

Fernando Alonso: “I enjoyed it, especially the final part of the race.”

1 Mins read
Fernando Alonso was pleased to finish fifth - Credit: Octane Photographic Ltd

McLaren Honda Formula 1 Team driver Fernando Alonso enjoyed the United States Grand Prix especially the latter part of the race in which he battled for fifth place with Carlos Sainz Jr and Felipe Massa.

Alonso was running seventh before a robust overtake at turn fifteenth on Massa, before passing Sainz on the back straight for fifth with a handful of laps remaining.

“It was good and interesting today, I enjoyed it, especially the final part of the race. Carlos [Sainz] was on a different strategy and different tyres to me and Felipe, which allowed us to close the gap.”

Alonso’s tyre strategy allowed him to close the gap on the Scuderia Toro Rosso driver and eventually overtake him in the closing laps.

“Our tyres were in better condition than the Toro Rosso’s and we took advantage of that. The last couple of laps were very intense, as we had some extra speed so we tried hard to overtake. It was quite easy to overtake the Toro Rosso as they’re slow on the straights, so you just need to open the DRS.”

Fifth place was an excellent result for Alonso especially considering that McLaren struggled to find the right setup earlier in the weekend. Scoring ten points jumped the Spanish driver into the top ten which is a great result for McLaren.

“Our result today is nice for motivation, so I’m happy with fifth, but we gained a couple of positions because of other people going out, and our pace hasn’t been great all weekend here, so we need to understand the reasons for that.”

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