Birthday boy Alonso takes 'kamikaze' route to season best

BUDAPEST: Fernando Alonso admitted he needed to put in some "kamikaze moves" as he clocked the fastest lap for sixth place for McLaren in Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix, his best result this season.
The two-time world champion, who celebrated his 36th birthday on Saturday, followed it with a stretch in a deck-chair after his efforts on Sunday.
His drive included a dramatic passing move around the outside of compatriot Carlos Sainz of Red Bull at Turn Two.
"The battle with Carlos was a close-run thing -- we were together at the start and at the restart after the Safety car. We came into the pits together and we exited together," said Alonso.
"I knew I had two laps when I could really push -- and I did it with some kamikaze moves at times!"
Team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne also enjoyed his best finish of the season, coming home 10th to add a point as the team bagged nine towards their championship haul.
"We were probably looking towards seventh or eighth, but with Daniel Ricciardo out of the race, sixth became possible and we grabbed it," said Alonso.
McLaren have struggled for three seasons to develop power and reliability from their Honda engines.
"We worked hard all weekend for that result -- no mistakes, good practice sessions, strong qualifying and then a perfectly executed race," added Alonso.
"There are three or four weekends a season where we can be competitive so we need to maximise those and capitalize on our potential and that's exactly what we did." — AFP