Fernando Alonso is very proud of his performance at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Sunday, so much so that the Spanish driver claimed nobody else at Baku could have equalled his driving in the race.

Fernando Alonso Azerbaijan Grand Prix Finish

Alonso, who drives with McLaren and finished seventh, was hit by Sergey Sirotkin’s Williams in the first lap at Baku, a lap the Spaniard believes only he could have been able to finish.

“Another seventh place but I think it was the result of persistence and pride, because I think no one [else] would have reached the pitlane, first of all,” Alonso said, according to ESPN. “They would have parked the car and if they could reach the pitlane they would have retired the car.

“But we didn’t park or retire the car and fought for every tenth, every lap, close to the walls all race long and, I think it was the best race of my life.”

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In the opening-lap crash with Sirotkin — which also involved Nico Hulkenberg — Alonso suffered two punctured tires. He also replaced the wheels and the front wing.

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The Spaniard added that he thinks other competitors would have “parked their cars” if they had sustained the same amount of damage his vehicle took on at the beginning of the Formula 1 race.

“It was an unrepeatable race,” two-time world champion Alonso said in an Instagram post.

Alonso’s McLaren teammate Stoffel Vandoorne finished ninth at Baku.

Next up for Alonso is competing for Toyota this weekend at the 6 Hours of Spa, his first World Endurance Championship race of 2018.

Jenson Button is making his return to Formula One after a five-month absence.

Jenson Button to Replace Fernando Alonso for Monaco GP

The 37-year-old British driver will replace Spaniard Fernando Alonso on the McLaren team at the Monaco Grand Prix on May 28.

Fernando Alonso, a two-time Formula One champion, will miss the Monaco Grand Prix in May to race in the Indianapolis 500 instead.

Fernando Alonso (McLaren) skipping Monaco GP for Indy 500

The 35-year-old McLaren driver from Spain will compete for the Honda-powered Andretti team on May 28.

McLaren have yet to select who will replace Alonso for the F1 race in Monaco that same weekend, although Jenson Button is a possibility. The British driver and 2009 world champion is retired from F1 but continues to work with McLaren as an ambassador.

Meanwhile, British driver Lando Norris, 19, was signed to McLaren’s young driver program this year.

Alonso is in the final year of his three-season contract with McLaren, and has said he will decide what’s next for him during the summer break. According to some reports, the Spaniard has grown increasingly frustrated with McLaren and their troubled engine supplier Honda, which has led many to believe he could quit very soon.

Though Alonso will miss the race in Monte Carlo in favor of the Indy 500 — an event considered one of the largest races of the motor-sports season — he insists Monaco will be the only grand prix he will skip this season.

“I’m immensely excited that I’ll be racing in this year’s Indy 500, with McLaren, Honda and Andretti Autosport,” Alonso said. “The Indy 500 is one of the most famous races on the global motorsport calendar, rivaled only by the Le Mans 24 Hours and the Monaco Grand Prix, and it’s of course a regret of mine that I won’t be able to race at Monaco this year.

“But Monaco will be the only 2017 grand prix I’ll be missing, and I’ll be back in the cockpit of the McLaren-Honda for the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal in early June.”

Along with the Monaco GP and the Indy 500, the Le Mans 24 forms the “Triple Crown” of racing. Only the late Graham Hill has won all three (He did it in the 1960s).

Alonso, who won the Monaco Grand Prix in 2006 and 2007, said: “It’s a tough challenge, but I’m up for it. I don’t know when I’m going to race at Le Mans, but one day I intend to. I’m only 35. I’ve got plenty of time for that.”

The Spaniard admitted that since he has never raced an IndyCar before, or even driven on any sort of super-speedway, that there will be “a steep learning curve” for him in Indianapolis.

“I’ll be flying to Indianapolis from Barcelona immediately after the Spanish Grand Prix, practicing our McLaren-Honda-Andretti car at Indy from 15 May onwards, hopefully clocking up a large number of miles every day, and I know how good the Andretti Autosport guys are,” said Alonso.

Alonso has won 32 grands prix — sixth on the all-time list — although his last title was the 2013 Spanish Grand Prix, which he won in a Ferrari.

This will mark McLaren’s return to the Indy 500 for the first time in 38 years.

The Andretti team, run by former IndyCar and grand prix driver Michael Andretti, is one of the top squads in the championship and won the event last year with American Alexander Rossi, who raced five times in F1.

McLaren’s executive director, American Zak Brown, who will also be in Indianapolis instead of Monaco, believes Alonso has a good chance of winning the Indy 500.

“Could Fernando win this year’s Indy 500? Well, I wouldn’t be so silly as to make any such rash prediction, but I expect him to be in the mix,” said Brown.

“Put it this way, the team he’ll be racing for won the race last year, using the same Honda engine, and he’s the best racing driver in the world. That’s quite a compelling combination.”

Spanish McLaren Driver Fernando Alonso has been ruled out of this upcoming weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix as a result of the injuries he sustained during the Australian Formula One Grand Prix in Melbourne on March 20.

Fernando Alonso Ruled Unfit To Race Following Melbourne Crash, Will Miss Bahrain

The former World Champion will be replaced by Beglian McLaren third driver Stoffel Vandoorne for the rest of the weekend.

Following the accident, Alonso, 34, complained of a swollen knee and sore ribs. He was ruled out because of the latter after an FIA medical examination in Bahrain on Thursday. The Spaniard missed the Australian GP due to his Barcelona testing accident.

An FIA statement said: “Following an examination undertaken this morning at the Bahrain International Circuit Medical Centre, it has been decided that McLaren Honda F1 Team driver Fernando Alonso should not take part in this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix. Two sets of chest CT scans were compared and it was decided on safety grounds that there was insufficient resolution of the signs to allow him to compete on safety grounds.”

It added: “A repeat chest scan has been requested before the Chinese Grand Prix and the results will be considered before allowing him to race there.”

Shortly after getting the news of his debut in Bahrain, Vandoorne, 24, said the following on Twitter:

“I respect the decision,” Alonso commented. “I tried until the last moment to be able to race, at least to try in the practice. It has been some painful days at home. I was ready to go through this pain somehow in the car and make sure I could race, because at the end of the day the pain is manageable if you don’t think too much probably.”

PHOTO: MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – MARCH 20: Jolyon Palmer of Great Britain drives the (30) Renault Sport Formula One Team Renault RS16 Renault RE16 turbo with Fernando Alonso of Spain drives the (14) McLaren Honda Formula 1 Team McLaren MP4-31 Honda RA616H Hybrid turbo on track at the start during the Australian Formula One Grand Prix at Albert Park on March 20, 2016 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

Spanish McLaren driver Fernando Alonso emerged safe after a hard collision with Mexican Haas driver Esteban Gutierrez during the Australian Formula One Grand Prix in Melbourne on Sunday.

Fernando Alonso Flips Car Following Horrific Crash At Australian GP

Approximately one third of the way through the race, the right front tire of Alonso’s McLaren collided with the left rear tire of Gutierrez’s Haas as the Mexican driver braked to make the bend at Turn 3 on Lap 17.

As a result of the crash, Alonso’s car was propelled at high speed into the trackside concrete barrier and flipped twice in a barrel roll before coming to rest in a crumpled wreck.

The force of the crash was so great that fans were left fearing the worst before Alonso crawled out of the cockpit and limped away, shaking hands with a worried Gutierrez and waving to the crowd.

”I’m thankful for the safety of these cars,” Alonso said. ”I’m alive thanks to the job of the last 10 to 15 years of Formula One.”

”You want to stop but it doesn’t stop. It keeps going and going and going,” the Spaniard added. “It was quite scary, but at the last moment the car stopped and I had a little space to go out and I said `I will go out quickly because my mother will be watching at home.”’

Gutierrez quickly ran over to the wrecked McLaren and gave Alonso a handshake and embrace, clearly thankful that he had not been harmed. The incident has now reignited a debate concerning further Formula One safety measures, including the installation of a cockpit ‘halo’ device to protect drivers from being struck on the head by debris and bouncing wheels.

”It was a big relief to see that he was fine,” Gutierrez said. ”It was a very scary moment and not very pleasant to see how his car ended up.

”We were both a bit shocked from the crash. We came together and spoke a little bit, but we’re all good most importantly.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=as_rZPJS8KM

Caption: MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – MARCH 20: Jolyon Palmer of Great Britain drives the (30) Renault Sport Formula One Team Renault RS16 Renault RE16 turbo with Fernando Alonso of Spain drives the (14) McLaren Honda Formula 1 Team McLaren MP4-31 Honda RA616H Hybrid turbo on track at the start during the Australian Formula One Grand Prix at Albert Park on March 20, 2016 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)