Alonso delighted by McLaren form

An excited Fernando Alonso has promised McLaren will take a lot of encouragement from their positive display in Belgium, which saw the Spaniard finish seventh.

Alonso started at the back of the grid but a combination of new-found speed and the misfortune of some in front propelled him forward.

Alonso ran as high as fourth at one stage but he could not keep the faster Mercedes, Force India and Ferrari behind him.

But the two-time champion believes the result is a big positive.

"It was a good feeling; we had the pace this weekend, a little better than expected given the circuit that it is," said Alonso.

"Top 10 in qualifying yesterday with Jenson and in the point is great news being in Spa.

"All the bad luck we had in the weekend turned into good luck in the race with the incidents and problems we avoided, then the safety car and the red flag - so we found ourselves in a very good position.

"After that we had the pace to more or less keep position.

"We didn't hold Hamilton, Checo [Perez] or Vettel because they were just too fast, but we had enough to keep the Williams behind so good news.

"Seventh is very good points for the team and [to be] in the points, on a circuit like this, was unthinkable a couple of months ago."

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