Fernando Alonso expressed satisfaction at collecting the final point on offer at the Mexican Grand Prix but conceded he could do “nothing” to prevent Lewis Hamilton from passing late on.
Alonso gradually moved up the order from a penalised 18th on the grid at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, and pitted under the Virtual Safety Car, minimising his time loss.
Alonso held ninth spot, trailing Haas’ Kevin Magnussen, but ultimately slipped behind Hamilton during the closing stages, and came across the line at the foot of the top 10.
“Overall it was a good race, considering we started at the back of the grid, and we finished in the points,” he said.
“The car felt very nice all weekend – strong in the corners, and we had good handling and good balance throughout the race.
“We lacked a little bit of straight-line speed to attack or defend, so we were stuck behind a Sauber for half of the race and then we could not pass Magnussen for many laps.
“As soon as we lost the DRS with him we became very vulnerable, so in the end I think there was nothing we could do to keep Lewis behind.
“We fought hard, trying to brake a little bit later every time and defend the position, but we couldn’t manage to keep ninth place and save that point.
“It was a good battle but it’s hard when you don’t have the same car.”
Stoffel Vandoorne, meanwhile, finished in 12th, having also been compromised by McLaren’s lack of straight-line speed.
“We had an amazing start– we were 13th after the first lap – but we’ve seen how much we are missing in a straight line,” he said.
“We couldn’t even keep a Sauber behind and we couldn’t really overtake after that, so we lost ground.
“But our pace in clean air was very positive, the car felt very good, and starting from the back we knew it was always going to be tough for us.
“The end of the race got very exciting with a few cars coming close together, but it still shows that our straight-line speed is not good enough.
“It was a difficult race for us – there were definitely points on the cards, but we were just too compromised because of our speed and losing time in the pitstop with the late VSC call.
“The positives we can take away are that our pace was really strong and we made it to the end, but our deficit on the straights is still too big.”
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