Alonso admits “fear in stomach” after scary Stroll crash
Alpine driver Alonso collided heavily with Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll - his teammate next season - on Lap 22.
Stroll retired (and was given a three-place grid penalty for his role in the incident) but Alonso, somehow, continued to finish seventh.
"I'm happy to be here talking with you because I could surely be in the medical centre. So I'm happy for that," he told DAZN.
"We were lucky with the first safety car and then, on the restart, I tried to take Stroll's slipstream.
"I moved to the side to leave the slipstream, and he also moved. It was a bit of bad luck that we didn't understand each other.
"When I was in the air, I was a bit scared because it was very dangerous. When I landed on the asphalt, I thought it was race over. That's what I thought when I entered the pits.
"In the end, to finish seventh is incredible. The last laps, I was pushing like it was qualifying. It was my best race of the season, but the fear is still in my stomach.
“After the crash, I couldn't stop thinking about it for the rest of the race. I just wanted to finish the race."
The veteran Spaniard was given a 30-second time penalty, relegating him to 15th, after Haas protested that he was not shown a black and orange flag when his wing mirror came loose as he overtook Kevin Magnussen.
Alonso, 41, will be alongside Stroll in the F1 2023 driver line-up for Aston Martin as the replacement for the retiring Sebastian Vettel.
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.
