Alonso: Finishing in the points was ‘unexpected’

Fernando Alonso finished in P8 in the Austrian Grand Prix after starting from the pit lane on Sunday afternoon, and he did not expect to do so.

The Spaniard was the only McLaren driver to finish the race, with Stoffel Vandoorne retiring with a couple of laps to go.

Starting from the pit lane, Alonso said that he really did not expect to finish in the top ten.

“Definitely, I am, I am [happy],” Alonso said. “We did not expect to be in the points but the race unfolded in this way, especially with the blister in the second part of the race and we recovered a couple of positions during the last couple of laps.”

The Spaniard took four points away from Spielberg, but said that the focus moves straight on to the next race, and the final part of the triple-header, in Great Britain.

“Happy with the points, it was unexpected, and now we go to our home grand prix, Silverstone, and hopefully we can deliver some better results,” Alonso added.