Alonso surprised not to have been passed sooner by Hamilton

Fernando Alonso put up a staunch defense against Lewis Hamilton for the better part of ten laps in the latter part of the Hungarian Grand Prix, but the Spaniard believes the Mercedes driver should have passed him much earlier.

While his Alpine teammate Esteban Ocon led Sunday's proceedings, Alonso progressed up to fourth with just over 20 laps to go.

However, a fast-moving Hamilton storming through the field caught up with the Spaniard.

Aware that a strong resistance would only increase Ocon's chances of success, Alonso put in an extra effort to keep Hamilton at bay, a display that earned the Alpine charger the 'Driver of the Day' vote from F1's fans.

"I didn't know that probably that was enough to hold the victory for Esteban but anyway it was ten laps from the end, we tried to hold the position but eventually it was not possible.

"Lewis had an amazing pace in the last couple of laps, it was not enough."

Alonso reckoned that Hamilton's superior speed should have allowed the Mercedes to swiftly overtake the Alpine on the run down to Turn 1.

But Alonso reckoned that the Briton's lines through the last two corners were not allowing him to set up an overtaking opportunity at the end of the main straight.

"Honestly, I think that Lewis was making a small mistake in the last two corners, that's my honest opinion," he said.

"Because he had so much pace, you can't take eight laps to pass with that pace advantage.

"And in fact, after changing a few lines, he could pass Carlos [Sainz] immediately one lap after. It was not difficult to pass, but it took him four or fiver laps to figure it out, that's my opinion."

• Read also: 'What a moment!' - Ocon jubilant after Hungary victory

While he was happy to score another solid bag of points for his team, Alonso hoped that he would luck in to a podium at some point.

But in the end, the Spaniard was delighted with his teammate's win, having greeted Ocon in parc fermé and rejoiced with the first-time Grand Prix winner.

"I'm super super happy," said Alonso. "Not only for Esteban because it's a day that he will never forget - you know he's first win - but for the guys, you know all the people in Enstone, in Viry, working flat out, and the results are not easy to come.

"We are in a very tough and competitive environment in F1, so to have this kind of result is a motivation for everybody."

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