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Alonso admits Vettel tussle wasn't 'fair fight'

Cape Town - Fernando Alonso says his brief battle with Sebastian Vettel in China wasn't a "fair fight" as the German's Ferrari was damaged. 

Alonso grabbed seventh place off Vettel on the penultimate lap of the Chinese Grand Prix, taking advantage of the Ferrari driver's woes. 

Vettel, who had at one stage been fighting for the win, was hit by Max Verstappen and was struggling with a damaged SF71H. 

Speaking of his brief tussle with a member of his former team, he said: "It was good. 

"Obviously it was not a fair fight because Sebastian had damage on his car and I was a little bit quicker on the corners," said Alonso. 

"I was surprised when I saw a Ferrari not going too fast at the end. 

"I asked what was the problem and apparently he had damage on his car so he was struggling a little bit on the corners. 

"He was running very wide in the corners so in the first opportunity I saw the door open and went for it and in the end at one point the track finished so he kept going until there was grass, so you need to back off at one point." 

As for Vettel, he wasn't impressed with the way in which Alonso went about passing him. 

"I was very vulnerable so he could have passed me another time," he said. 

"I think the way he dived in was now or never, and I obviously had to back off, otherwise we would have just crashed."

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