Alonso praises ‘outstanding’ Bortoleto after duo battle late on in Austria

Fernando Alonso was full of praise for Kick Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto after the Brazilian rookie collected his first F1 points in Austria, with the duo engaging in an entertaining duel late on in Spielberg.

With Alonso on his way to a strong seventh-placed finish in the race, Bortoleto – who belongs to the Aston Martin man's Driver Management programme – charged up behind and came incredibly close to picking off Alonso on the very last lap.

With the pair the only drivers to go for the one-stop in Austria, and with Bortoleto's tyres 16 laps fresher, the Spanish two-time World Champion defended hard against his mentee.

However, luck was also on Alonso's side as race winner Lando Norris closed in to take the chequered flag, meaning both had to cede to the McLaren.

Not only did that hand Alonso DRS, but it also ensured that the battling cars took the chequered flag behind Norris and thus had one lap less to complete.

Alonso certainly used all his experience to hang onto P7 – but afterwards, he was as overjoyed for his young charge as he was about his own result, going straight to the Brazilian for a heartwarming hug as they climbed out of their cars in parc ferme.

“Incredible, happy for him,” Alonso said about Bortoleto’s first points in F1.

“Gabi was outstanding the whole season, for one reason or another [Nico] Hulkenberg was then scoring the points on Sunday. But I think [Bortoleto] deserved maybe before this one to score already but I hope for him it is the first of many.

“The first points in Formula 1, they taste always very special.“

As for how his race unfolded, Alonso was full of praise for his team, who succesfully tried the one-stop, even with track temperatures hitting 50C and tyre degradation extremely high as a result.

“It was intense," Alonso explained. "Look, the first thing was the strategy. The team was right, the one-stop strategy was the one to go for today, it was the fastest as I was not as fast as the Kick Sauber or the Haas and I still finished in front of them.

“The one-stop was the right choice, good pit stop, good timing as well. And then at the end I got lucky as when Gabi came with a lot better pace, I had Norris with the blue flags so Gabi could not attack me on the last laps. And it meant the race was one lap shorter as, by letting Norris go, we saw the chequered flag so all in all, it was a perfect combo for us.”

Lance Stroll was unable to score on Sunday, coming home 14th for Aston Martin, who remain eighth in the Championship. Thanks to Alonso’s points though, they have closed up to Haas and are just one point behind the American outfit heading into Silverstone.