Fernando Alonso delivered another strong performance in the improving McLaren-Honda as he recorded a seventh place at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
The Spaniard, having qualified seventh in qualifying, made a superb start to get ahead of Carlos Sainz and run sixth in the early stages of the race. Alonso was passed by Kimi Raikkonen during the first round of stops as the Ferrari driver was on an opposite strategy.
Nevertheless, Alonso retained seventh place for the remainder of the race, a position he occupied in all three practice sessions as well as qualifying and the race. “Well, P7 has been my position all weekend!” Alonso said after the race.
“It’s a pity we couldn’t improve this afternoon but still I think we were best of the race today. Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari are out of reach at the moment for everyone – they’re on another level – so, in the other mini-championship we’re racing in, we were quite competitive and I feel we delivered the maximum we could today.”
The result for Alonso means McLaren close to just seven points adrift of the sixth-placed team Toro Rosso in the Constructors’ Championship. Alonso did have to drive a controlled final 20 laps after being issued with the black and white flag for exceeding track limits on three occasions during the race at turns four and eleven.
The rest of the race had limited action despite numerous small gaps between drivers, but Alonso was positive about the weekend overall: “There wasn’t much action in the race though. For us, it was a little bit of a boring afternoon at some points – not the usual Hungaroring show – and the only retirement, unfortunately, was Jenson. I’m happy about how the weekend went and hopefully we can keep this up progress. We’ve been more or less competitive here and at Silverstone, on two very different circuits, so I’m looking forward to next weekend at Hockenheim.”
