Fernando Alonso hailed the British Grand Prix as probably his “best race” so far since returning to Formula 1 in 2021.
The double world champion was involved everywhere you looked at Silverstone, tieing the most places gained in the first-ever F1 Sprint Qualifying with four before holding on to his P7 starting position in the race itself.
“It was good, it was enjoyable,” Alonso said via Crash.net.
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“The new format gave us the possibility to improve a little bit our quali position from Friday. Starting seventh, today, it was a better race, in a better group of cars. We could manage the position a little bit easier.
“Double points for the team, seventh and ninth,” he noted. “Happy for that. It’s the fifth consecutive race in the points [for me].
“The best result was Baku but it was a different race with the restart at the end. This was the best race so far, probably of the year.
“Seventh was on merit, not on luck or safety car or restarts so happy with the performance and happy with the car. Looking forward to Budapest now.”
During the F1 Sprint, Alonso did ruffle some feathers with his weaving down the straights and aggressive defensive moves.
But the Alpine driver vowed to continue that approach because he feels it is within what the stewards currently deem acceptable.
“I don’t care [what others say]. I’ve been on the other side for nine races,” he told Spanish daily AS.
“I have always been a clean driver and will continue to be that way throughout my career. I am one of the few who does not have any penalty points.
“But, I felt a bit like an idiot respecting the rules [of track limits at the start] in Austria.
“We tried to talk to the race director without response, that was strange. I don’t want to be always protesting something that others do.
He’s pretty good at these race starts, isn’t he? ?@alo_oficial absolutely aces it at lights out in the F1 Sprint #BritishGP ?? #F1 pic.twitter.com/RpA4JnDr1v
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 17, 2021
“There were no solutions, so I understood that the solution is to do the same as others do.
“I tried to tell the referee that they played by hand, but the referee doesn’t do anything, so we can do it too.
“I wish it wasn’t necessary, but there are things that are allowed in F1. It’s not the dark side, it’s playing by the same rules as everyone else.
“It’s going to be the same for the remainder of the year.”