Alonso very happy with Alpine: "The car was flying"

Fernando Alonso was very satisfied with the Russian Grand Prix and especially with Alpine and the car. The Spaniard was able to climb up to second and third place in the race due to the changing weather conditions, but eventually had to settle for sixth place. Despite not being able to finish on the podium, this was in his eyes the best race of the season so far for the French racing team.

"It was obviously a good race for us. I must say it was the best race of the year when we look at performance. The car felt very fast and we had a good balance throughout the race," Alonso told Motorsport.

"We kept the pace well against Sergio Pérez in the first stint. Then we switched to the medium tyre and at one point we were even able to overtake Max Verstappen and pull away from him. Then it started to drizzle a bit and on dry tyres we overtook Daniel Ricciardo, Perez and Carlos Sainz and we were P3. So I think the podium today was possible on merit, the car was flying. And I was very happy, but unfortunately the rain came five laps before the end," said Alonso.

Alonso is positive

"We seem ultra competitive, so we have to understand if we did something different here, try to move forward for the next events, because the car was very fast so that was a very positive sign," said the 40-year-old driver.

"I think we should have been on the podium today if we look at the race and the driving. But every point we got this year is on merit, we never had any presents. So I'm proud of every point I've gotten this year."