Alonso felt “a little bit sad” taking 10th off Russell in F1 Austrian GP

Russell was on course to score Williams’ first point since the 2019 German Grand Prix, running in tenth place at the Red Bull Ring.

After holding off Alonso for several laps, the Alpine driver got past with four laps to go into Turn 4.

Reflecting on his battle with Russell, Alonso said after the race: “It was very intense. Unfortunately only for one point but it felt like it was the last lap of the championship for us, because one point is gold for him and for ourselves as well after starting 14th. It was nice. In a way when I saw that it was George I felt a little bit sad that the battle had to be with him.

“But I think he will have the opportunity to step on podiums and fight for race wins in the future if he goes to Mercedes, so it’s going to be different times for him. But I enjoyed today. One point when starting from 14th maybe was not expected because our simulations this morning were a little bit more pessimistic than P10 so I take the point and this is something.”

Alonso was left to rue a missed opportunity in Austria after he could only qualify 14th - his lowly grid position was as a result of being impeded by Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel at the end of Q2.

Nevertheless, Alonso was happy to continue his points streak.

“For one point it was like the last lap of the championship position! It was only one point but I think it was the least we deserved for the whole team.

“The performance this weekend was very good and it’s very little reward probably for one point. At least we keep scoring every Sunday – I think for the last four Grands Prix – so let’s keep it this way. I think after yesterday our weekend changed dramatically so we could fight for P5/P6 or fighting for P10 or P11 like today. So it’s a big change but nothing we can do now so let’s take this point, let’s learn from this weekend and let’s see in Silverstone.”