Alonso grateful: 'I could make my adaptation a little bit shorter'

Fernando Alonso is still happy with his return to Formula 1. While the Spaniard previously said goodbye to the sport, he returned this season to work for Alpine. Alonso's performance has been excellent and he believes this is due to his teammate Esteban Ocon.

During the Hungarian Grand Prix, Alonso showed how close his relationship with Ocon is. The Spaniard was in fourth place, while Ocon was at the front of the field. When Lewis Hamilton then tried to overtake Alonso, the experienced driver kept the Briton behind for a long time. It was one of the reasons Ocon ended up with the top prize on the podium.

Alonso in turn is grateful to his teammate. "It has been very close this year," he told Motorsport.com. "At the beginning of the year, it was not even close. I was not up to speed, for sure. So it was very helpful to have Esteban on top of his game. To try to get up to speed with a very fast reference was a good thing for me. I could make my adaptation a little bit shorter thanks to Esteban as well, to have that reference."

The Spaniard scored 58 points this season, no less than 13 points more than his teammate. Alonso is thus in tenth position.