McLaren-Honda racing director Eric Boullier was extremely pleased to see Fernando Alonso secure seventh place in the Singapore Grand Prix, and felt the Spaniard drove superbly throughout the near-two hour long race.
Alonso ran as high as fifth early in the event, but was unable to keep the two Scuderia Ferrari drivers behind him, but was best of the rest behind them, Mercedes AMG PETRONAS and Red Bull Racing on Sunday.
“From a McLaren-Honda point of view, we were pleased to score six world championship points as a result of Fernando’s forceful and competitive run to seventh place,” said Boullier.
“He made a strong start and then maintained impressive and consistent lap-times all afternoon. His was a great drive by any standards.”
Boullier bemoaned the start that effectively ended the chances of points for Jenson Button, but he felt that there was nothing Button could have done differently to avoid tagging Valtteri Bottas as both tried to avoid the accident of Nico Hülkenberg.
“As for Jenson, he too got off the line well, but his fine start was spoiled when his front wing touched part of the Williams of Valtteri, who was trying to avoid getting embroiled in Nico’s shunt,” said Bouller.
“It was no-one’s fault: sometimes chain reactions of that nature occur in racing, especially on lap one, and there was absolutely nothing Jenson could have done to avoid getting tagged in Nico’s accident this evening.”
