Heartbreaker Fernando Alonso left 'feeling bad' for George Russell

Alonso, Russell, Austria — Photo: © LAT Images

Austrian Grand Prix

Heartbreaker Alonso left 'feeling bad' for Russell

Alonso snatched P10 away from the Williams with three laps to go

Ewan Gale

Sunday 4 July 2021 19:00

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Fernando Alonso revealed he was hoping for the driver he overtook for 10th late in the Austrian Grand Prix would have been "anyone apart from" George Russell.

The Alpine driver earned a point with just three laps to go to dismiss his own statement after qualifying that the team could "forget" about scoring points when starting only 14th.

Russell was searching for his first points as a Williams driver - and the first for the team since the German Grand Prix of 2019 - but was unable to hold onto a top-10 spot after starting eighth.

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Alonso labelled Russell as a future world champion when swapping helmets at the Monaco Grand Prix and when put to him by Sky Sports F1 that he had broken British hearts, he replied: "I know, I know.

"We have to be happy with a point. It is too little reward for the job, the performance and the car but it is what we could achieve starting that far back.

"I felt a little bit bad for George, he drove an amazing weekend and when I saw P10 and it was him, I was hoping that anyone apart from him, but that is sport.

"I had much better tyres, much better traction out of turn three so I could make the move three laps to the end. He will have more opportunities for podiums and wins in the future."

Silverstone a "good test" for Alpine

After being blocked in qualifying, Alonso stated he had the pace to reach the top five at the Red Bull Ring.

Despite such a strong show from the two-time champion across F1's first triple-header, the Spaniard maintained Silverstone would be the benchmark race.

"It is quite up and down for everybody in the midfield," added Alonso.

"For Silverstone, it is going to be quite a good test because it is a very different circuit, a lot of high-speed corners and the sprint race on Saturday so I think we have to be very flexible with our target and see how it goes."