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Fernando Alonso turned a back-of-the-grid start into a points finish at the Spanish GP, finishing the race in 9th position after starting 20th. The Alpine driver appeared to have a very strong race pace as he made his way through the field, pulling off one decisive move after the other.
Speaking to the media after the race, the Spaniard was in a good mood after scoring his first points finish since the Bahrain GP. Admitting that this felt a bit like a victory for him, Alonso hoped there were more such results on the way for him. He said:
"It's great to finish in the points today especially after our bad qualifying yesterday, so I'm very happy with that. The atmosphere was special today and even though we were starting last I feel like we managed to put a show on for the fans. It feels a bit like a victory! Hopefully we can start scoring consecutively in the points from here. I think we still need to improve on Sundays, but we did a good job today and managed it well."
The 40-year-old also appeared to be apologetic about his complaints against the FIA stewards post-Miami, saying:
“In reflection on Miami and Thursday, maybe I see it in a different way now. The Stewards did their job in Miami and perhaps we see things differently from inside the car in the heat of the moment. I am fully supportive of the FIA’s ideas and we want to work with them to improve the show for the fans.”
Alonso suffered a rather surprise elimination in Q1 as the Alpine driver struggled to find speed in qualifying. He was expected to start the race in 17th but the team and the driver opted to fit a new power unit and start the race at the back of the grid.
Fernando Alonso faces a 26-point deficit to his teammate
While Fernando Alonso finished the race in 9th, his teammate Esteban Ocon finished the race in 7th. The French driver had outqualified Alonso on Saturday and made the most of the Alpine race pace to secure 7th in the race.
With that result, however, Ocon has stretched his lead over Alonso to 26 points. While the Spaniard has faced issues with reliability, his teammate has somewhat kept his nose clean and in turn stretched the lead to 26 points over Alonso.
