Alonso: 'Team held me back'

Fernando Alonso has said a pit stop delay which prevented teammate Lewis Hamilton from recording a quick final lap was not his fault.

Alonso was held after changing onto fresh tyres for one last flying lap, leaving Hamilton queueing directly behind him and unable to set one final quick time of his own.

Explaining the hold, Alonso said: "The team held me back in this. We tried to have some space with the Ferrari (Raikkonen) in front of us.''

Hamilton, though, was clearly unhappy as he said: “There’s not really much to say. You saw what happened.

“The team did a great job and we had very good pace, but I’m not aware of what happened. You should ask the team.”

When asked as to how long he missed out on setting a final quick lap, he tersely replied: “About the same amount of time I was held up in the pit stop.”