Fernando Alonso slates 'back of the grid' drivers after Alex Albon collision

Fernando Alonso has hit out at the driving standards amongst the midfield and backmarker runners after an opening-lap collision with Alex Albon wrecked his United States Grand Prix.

The two-time F1 champion made contact with the Williams driver at Turn 11 on lap one at the Circuit of the Americas, destroying the bargeboard on the left-hand side of his Aston Martin, leading to a loss of downforce and a 16th-place finish at the chequered flag.

Stewards opted against handing Albon a penalty for the clash, treating it as a standard first-lap racing incident.

Speaking after the race, however, Alonso did not hold back when assessing the manoeuvre that triggered the damage.

Asked for his view on the incident, Alonso said: "That Albon forgot that corner 11 was there, and he had to turn left."

Pulling no punches, he added: "We need to get better and start a bit higher up because I think the bottom of the grid, the quality of the drivers is very low at the moment."

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Alonso - 'Ruined on the first lap'

The 45-year-old explained just how much the contact cost him over the remaining 55 laps in Austin.

"It compromised [the race] a lot," he said. "I think we had more than half a second of damage on the car every lap, and even with that, I think we were quite competitive."

Despite the setback, Alonso rated his underlying pace as amongst the strongest of his campaign.

"By far the best race of the season from my point of view," he added. "Probably we could have been in the points on merit, maybe P10, P9, something like that.

"Definitely a very good weekend ruined on the first lap, but nothing we can do now."