Alonso on driving style: "I've always steered aggressively"

Alpine ended the first half of the season with an excellent victory. It was a race in which Fernando Alonso, who finished just off the podium, perhaps impressed even more than race winner Esteban Ocon.

Alonso has fought his way back to his former peak performance level by making small changes to his car. Power steering, according to the Spaniard, is crucial to his pace: he says the driver is 'defenceless' without the feedback he gets from it.

"Because of my driving style, I've always steered aggressively in the middle of the corner, and then I go by how the front tyres feel. If the steering goes softer, it means they are losing grip," he explained to Soymotor.com in an interview on YouTube.

He continues: "When it gets harder they have too much grip, and you can expect the rear of the car to move. Normally I feel everything with my hands at the front of the car. If you take that away from me, I'm dead. Other drivers might do it differently, but I'm defenceless if I can't feel the front tyres. Then I can't predict what the car will do," said the two-time world champion.