Alonso: McLaren were ‘best of the rest’

2016 Hungarian Grand Prix

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Fernando Alonso says he believes McLaren were the ‘best of the rest’ behind Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari in Hungary after finishing seventh.

After McLaren’s strongest weekend of the season so far in which both Alonso and Button were consistently inside the top ten, the former world champion says that he feels the team achieved the maximum result possible.

“I think we were the best of the rest,” says Alonso.

“I think Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull are out of reach at the moment, so in the other mini-championship that we race in, I think today we delivered the best result possible. So happy with that and hopefully we can keep this progression.”

Alonso spent the race in and around seventh place, under little pressure from behind but unable to challenge the six cars ahead.

“It was actually boring, to be honest, in some points of the race,” Alonso adds. “Not much action today. Unfortunately not normal Budapest show. Only one retirement – Jenson, unfortunately, with some engine prorblems.

“I think Silverstone and here are two different circuits and we were more or less competitive in both, so looking forward to next weekend.”

2016 Hungarian Grand Prix

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    Will Wood
    Will has been a RaceFans contributor since 2012 during which time he has covered F1 test sessions, launch events and interviewed drivers. He mainly...

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    18 comments on “Alonso: McLaren were ‘best of the rest’”

    1. They where second to last of the teams they are competing with and Renault is just “competing” with an makeshift testcar in preparation for 2017.

    2. I thought GP2 was the “other mini-championship”, has F1 embraced too much of capitalism with little or no regards to the spirit of sport in which income inequality has widened disproportionately without control? Am I the only one feeling when watching F1 it feels like I’m reading some kind of Wall Street gossips?

    3. With Toro Rosso struggling (and not just with their car… Kvyat is seriously underperforming) I’d expect McLaren to snatch 6th place in the WCC from them come November. Also, at least they are getting in the fight with Force India and sometimes Williams. And they can fight, unlike last year!

    4. Genuinely happy for McLaren. You always make bigger gains when were at the back with a team with such resources but it’s always good since they’ve clearly messed up since 2013 in terms of car performance. Every year from 2013, I thought it can’t get any worse and it did so…..yeah, happy to see the recovery although long way to go!

    5. The track suited McLaren. Force India will nail them in Germany again. Hopefully there is more development coming for the races that follow as I wouldn’t be happy on a once-off best of rest tag.

      1. Yea Hungary does not suit force India the last time they scored was with Paul di resta 2007

        1. Are you sure? Force India did not even exist in 2007!

          1. Raveen dhana
            26th July 2016, 13:50

            My bad that was 2011 when Paul was p7

    6. Not sure todays race wasan accurate pointer regarding Mclaren performance….as overtaking didnt really happen…but it was a definite improvement for them….Buttons engine looked more like ready to blow than a oil leak…..
      Also kvyat will not reach the end of this season if he carries on as he has this weekend..and all year….does he not want the torro rosso drive??

      1. Alejandro Torres
        25th July 2016, 15:00

        Kyvat had a drive in Red Bull and after two incidents got replaced by a 18 year old kid who won on his very first race. How would your morale be if you were in his situation?

    7. Good result from the team, well done to them. Hopefully, more is yet to come.
      Go McLaren, go!

    8. Well, keep the platonic trophy Alonso. Fernando did great today nevertheless the Honda to their own admission are, ever since the first fly aways a faster PU than the 2015 Ferrari on the STR. Looking at all the other midfield runners the McLaren are by far the most well established both financially and also operationally, which means that running best of the rest today isn’t that special.
      This track suited McLaren not for the slow nature but the fact, it is after the resurfacing, smooth and the deg is low which rather than suit their car, actually hides McLaren’s deficiencies. The McLaren isn’t a terrible chassis but I don’t believe it is stronger than their PU performance, as McLaren have above all performed well on smooth low deg surfaces rather than long straight vs lots of corners, just take a look at Russia and Hungary, very different yet the car was running well on the top 10.

    9. Mclaren finishes 2 spots lower than they did in 2015, and nearly a minute down on the leaders on a track that suits their car. Things must be really shambolic at Mclaren if they genuinely find optimism in this result.

      1. @todford The 2015 result was simply due to Raikkonen retiring, both Mercedes having accidents of their own and so on. Moreover, there was a late safety car which bunched the field up, so this year is a considerable improvement on their fortunes

    10. That’s great for McLaren- but quite honestly- I hate to throw cold water on this article but Alonso carries that unfortunate Latin stereotype of being moody and temperamental- so anything he says at this period is unreliable.

      1. *anything he says about McLaren-Honda’s performance

    11. They finished 7th in a race where none of the top six cars had issues; it is a solid performance by them; given their issues i’m sure it is encouraging for them, but it is still short of our expectations.
      We want to see Jenson and Fernando fighting for the podium! Do you hear us Ron?!?!?!?!?!

    12. Not much choice for Jenson, this or Williams…

      Best of rest was Red Bull, McLaren was just best of rest of rest of rest.

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