23/10/2016
NEWS STORY
Fernando Alonso has not been penalised following his clash with Felipe Massa in today's race.
In a somewhat dull United States Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso's pursuit of Carlos Sainz and Felipe Massa in the closing stages of the race was one of the few highlights.
As the Toro Rosso and Williams drivers battled, Alonso crept up behind and bided his time.
With four laps remaining he finally made his move, attacking Massa down the inside at Turn 15 the two banged wheels and ran wide, the Spaniard taking sixth in the process.
"Felipe closed the door on me, I was already alongside him," cried the Spaniard in the aftermath.
Alleged to have caused a collision, both drivers were called before the stewards who viewed the relevant video evidence before deeming that no further action should be taken.
Having passed Massa, Alonso set off after Sainz, finally passing the youngster with the aid of DRS. Such was his delight, Alonso let of a gutsy "Yee Haw!"
"It is difficult to overtake on the straight so we try to on the inside which was very aggressive," admitted Alonso. "Unfortunately we touched, but luckily we both continue.
"When I did the manoeuvre, I was side-by-side," he continued, "I was not a quarter ahead or something like that. It's not like I was coming from behind or it was any crazy thing, so it was not the space for him to turn in.
"With Carlos it was easy because you just open the DRS and the Toro Rosso was quite slow on the straight," he added.
"It seems like we had the tyres in better conditions than the others and we took advantage of that. He fitted the soft, we fitted the medium, so I had better tyre life at the end of the race and we took advantage of that."
Check out our Sunday gallery from Austin, here.