F1: Fifth place "unbelievable," Alonso says

Fernando Alonso emerged from a chaotic Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix with a result he has hailed as "unbelievable" for McLaren.

Following an incident-strewn race Alonso claimed the Honda-powered team's best result of a troubled season with fifth position at the Hungaroring. With teammate Jenson Button ninth, it was the first time this year McLaren finished a grand prix with both cars in the points.

Alonso said: "The race was chaotic in some parts, and we took advantage of the opportunities that arrived to us, and we maximized the result.

"Fifth is unbelievable, a little impressive for us because in this moment we are not super competitive For the whole team, the people at the factory working 24 hours a day just to keep updating the car, to get some points is a good way to go into the break.

"We know the car is improving, we know we are getting more competitive, but it's always nice to touch it with your hands. At the end of the day we are here to compete, to win one day, but we are not in that position right now.

"We know we are going in the right direction, but it's always better if you score points. We were a little bit lucky with some of the things that happened in the race – but in some races we've been unlucky, so we need to take every opportunity."

Button felt he could have potentially have finished as high as Alonso, but for the fact his tires were not replaced during a safety car period, resulting in him being on old rubber come the end of the race.

"I'd rather have been up where Fernando is, but he did a great job, and also the strategy worked for him in putting on the soft tires in the final stint," assessed Button. "Most people stopped under the safety car, but I didn't, which made it very difficult because the tires were old when we started again. So I did a very long stint whereas other people were on new tires.

"I was running on primes when others were on options, so it was very, very difficult to hold people behind. Tough one –that was a mistake, but I still scored points.

"For the team, it's great to get points going into the summer break, but we are also realistic and we understand what was going on in a crazy race. There were a lot of offs and drive-throughs, which helped us quite a bit, but good to get some points, and both be in the points as well.

"This is a step forward, but we need another step forward if we're going to repeat this."

Originally on Autosport.com