Alonso delighted to end F1 podium drought after “waiting so long”

Fernando Alonso has described his return to the Formula 1 podium for the first time in over seven years as “unbelievable”.

Alonso finished on the podium for the first time since the 2014 Hungarian Grand Prix after he beat Red Bull’s Sergio Perez to finish third in Qatar.

Alpine’s one-stop strategy worked beautifully as Perez ran out of laps to catch and overtake the Spaniard.

“Yeah, unbelievable,” he said. “Seven years and finally we got it. We were close a couple of races but not enough. Sochi was the last possibility and yeah today [we did it].”

The two-time F1 champion started the race from third, moving up two spots on the grid due to grid penalties for Max Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas.