F1 News: Fernando Alonso Applauds George Russell - "A Great Rival"

Fernando Alonso had to work hard when George Russell was right on his tail in Saudi Arabia.

Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso has praised his Mercedes rival George Russell after contesting a close battle for the fifth position in Jeddah on Saturday. Appreciating the British driver's pace, Fernando emphasized that he could not afford to make a single mistake due to the competition he offered.

Key Takeaways:

• Fernando Alonso praised George Russell for their closely contested battle for fifth place in Jeddah, noting the need for flawless driving due to tough competition.
• Despite starting fourth and losing a position early on, Alonso benefited from a strategic pit stop during the Safety Car period triggered by Lance Stroll's crash, securing fifth place.
• Alonso highlighted the need for further car evolution to gain three or four-tenths, which could significantly impact race performance and allow them to contend for higher positions.

Starting fourth on the grid, Alonso surrendered a position to Oscar Piastri's McLaren early in the race but maintained pressure on the Australian driver. A strategic pit stop during the Safety Car period, triggered by Lance Stroll's crash on Lap 7, proved to be advantageous for the spaniard. 

While Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton chose not to pit, Alonso capitalized on the opportunity, ultimately securing a fifth-place finish after managing to pull away from George Russel by maintaining a gap of four seconds. 

Speaking on the marginal improvement in performance in the AMR24 F1 car from Bahrain, Alonso told Marca:

"A fifth seems like a normal result, neither good nor bad, as they say, but I think it is not where we should be.

"From Bahrain here we made a small step, we will try to qualify well still but we have to improve our race pace for the next GPs."

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Alonso added that with Russell on the tail of his AMR24, he had to endure "mentally demanding" laps to ensure he maintained a gap of more than one second. He said:

"I had a great rival in George Russell the whole race and I couldn't make any mistakes. I wanted to keep him behind by more than a second, so they were very mentally demanding laps, even touching the wall there on one occasion. Happy with the result, very very happy".

The Spaniard suggested that if the car can gain three or four-tenths more, it can contend for the position in the front. He added:

"I think we are missing three or four tenths of car evolution of bringing parts that give us three or four tenths. If you have three or four tenths, the races do begin to change course and you begin to have the rhythm that they have."

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