Fernando Alonso believes that his seventh-placed finish in the Singapore Grand Prix was the best that he and his team could do.
The Spaniard was the only McLaren to finish the race as Jenson Button retired on lap 43. The Briton had also been struggling ever since getting caught up in Nico Hulkenberg’s crash on Lap 1.
Speaking to the media, Alonso believes McLaren has gone above and beyond in being the ‘best of the rest’ after Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull.
“Seventh was the maximum we could achieve today – the best of the rest after the two Mercedes’, the two Red Bull’s and the two Ferrari’s,” he conceded
“We weren’t perhaps quite the fourth-fastest team here this weekend, so it’s thanks to good strategy and a good start that we were able to bring home this result.”
Alonso also discussed his strategy for the start of the race that had him running in fifth, avoiding Hulkenberg’s accident.
“I chose to go on the outside at the start, and the crash didn’t affect me as I was already up into sixth at that point.
“Then I braked very late for the first corner and got past Daniil [Kvyat] and Kimi [Raikkonen]. Everything went fine, sometimes you just need to get lucky.”
The Spaniard admitted he hoped for a podium finish, but is believes he did the best he could.
“For a time, I was even hoping for a podium finish, if something had happened ahead of me it could have worked out that way, but in fact, it was one of those races in which nothing happened at the front. Overall, we did the best we could today.”
Alonso will look to finish in a good position again when he and his team travel to Malaysia for the Grand Prix on October 9th.
