Fernando Alonso believes he would have finished on the podium and maybe even challenged for the win had he not got caught up in a first lap collision caused by the Ferraris and Max Verstappen.
Alonso got a great start to move up from eighth on the grid to fourth behind Sebastian Vettel, Kimi Raikkonen and Max Verstappen, with Lewis Hamilton in fifth behind.
With the top three colliding, Alonso would have assumed second place behind a limping Vettel – who then span after Turn 3 and retired – but was caught up in the collision at Turn 1 forcing him to retire too.
"The car was completely destroyed on the left side, and it was almost a miracle we could continue after that hit," said the Spaniard. "In the end we had to retire which is shame because we had high hopes for this race.
"I think we would even be leading now because Hamilton was behind me in Turn 1, so if Hamilton is leading now it means we would be leading.
"Sometimes things work out and sometimes they don't. When we start last because of penalties or we change the engine, usually 20 cars finish.
"Now we are good here and with the rain – I think the podium was guaranteed or maybe we would be even fighting for victory – everything happened."
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