Alonso in bold claims over Mercedes links and Japan weekend

Fernando Alonso has given a cryptic response to potential links to his signing for Mercedes after a Japanese Grand Prix he labelled as one of "his best."

Alonso qualified fifth and claimed sixth in the Suzuka race in the upgraded AMR24 machine, beating both Mercedes drivers and McLaren's Oscar Piastri to the flag.

Alonso has been touted as a potential short-term replacement for Hamilton at Mercedes in 2025, but after qualifying and finishing ahead of both Hamilton and George Russell, the two-time world champion is not sure it is "attractive."

"I had a lot of fun and had one of my best weekends ever [in terms of] driving and I am 44 seconds behind the leader, so it doesn't feel that attractive," Alonso told Sky Sports F1 about his future.

When he was then pushed on the Mercedes links, Alonso added: "Mercedes is behind so it doesn't feel that attractive."

As for his race, Alonso put the weekend among his best-ever in F1, in what was his 381st start, and urged Aston Martin to pick up its performances.

"I think that this was my best weekend, certainly inside my top five ever," he told media including RacingNews365.

"For me, P5 in qualifying and P6 [in the race] are completely out of position, so I am very proud.

"We are quite established there, so there is no way to compare us to Ferrari, McLaren, Red Bull and Mercedes.

"That is why finishing P5 and P6 is completely unusual, and we did that in Australia as well, finishing P6.

"P6 here again as well, and P5 in Jeddah, so we are executing very well, and the others are experimenting a bit with the strategy and other things, and we are capitalising on those, but we need to improve the pace."