Fernando Alonso has hailed the 2017 Brazilian Grand Prix as one of the McLaren-Honda Formula One Team’s best weekends after finishing eighth in the penultimate race of the season.
Alonso qualified an impressive seventh, which was promoted to sixth following a grid penalty for Daniel Ricciardo, and in the opening laps of the race the Spaniard ran in an incredible fifth place.
Alonso lost fifth on lap six when home hero Felipe Massa overtook him but as has become typical of Alonso’s style he drove his heart out in a tenacious attempt to overhaul the Brazilian, ultimately coming up short by four tenths-of-a-second.
“Overall, it’s been a happy Brazilian GP for us,” said Alonso. We started sixth, at the first corner we were up to fifth, and then we finished in the points – one of our best weekends.
“I had a fantastic car throughout the whole race, but, ultimately, I just could not overtake. We didn’t have enough speed on the straights. I was very, very close to Felipe a couple of times at the exit of the corners, and I thought ‘now is the time I can pass him,’ but even though I was using the DRS, he was pulling away.
“He was very consistent and made zero mistakes. Also, being the last lap of Felipe’s last-ever F1 race in Brazil, I wasn’t sure how hard he would defend! I didn’t have a chance to overtake him, anyway. And I had to defend from Perez behind, so I was happy when I saw the chequered flag.”
