Fernando Alonso has praised Daniel Ricciardo for being “very smart” and “very respectful,” during their duel during the German GP.
Alonso was told to save fuel, but decided to battle with Ricciardo instead. But, on the final lap, Alonso had to go into drastic fuel saving mode and meant that he beat Ricciardo to the line by just 0.082 of a second.
The Ferrari man was complimentary of the Aussie’s driving and how mature he was during their hard battle.
“Daniel is a surprise from Australia. I think he’s doing unbelievable,” Alonso said. “I think he’s seven-three in the first ten races with Sebastian [Vettel], so it’s something we probably didn’t suspect.
“He’s driving fantastically and he was battling very smart – always taking the slipstream off me after I pass him and braking very late, attacking very late and never missing a corner.
“He was very, very smart, very respectful with the rules and it was a great fight.”
