d.

Carlos was asked to weigh in on Fernando Alonso's comments about the back of the midfield and Alex: "I have enormous respect for Alex. He's a driver I love racing against and with whom I've never had any problems or lack of respect. I also enjoy battling with Fernando. Until this year, I'd never found myself in the bottom third of the grid. Throughout my life, between Toro Rosso, Renault, and McLaren, I've always fought for points and the top ten. For the first time, I find myself battling at the back of the midfield, and it's certainly not a pleasant situation. It's not so much a question of the quality of the drivers themselves, but rather the fact that you find yourself battling with drivers who truly have nothing to lose. The best result you can hope for is 20th place. This generates incidents or dynamics that you would never see at the front, simply because the stakes are infinitely higher at the front.” “In my opinion, none of us at the back of the grid deserves to occupy those positions. We all have the talent to fight for podiums, top five finishes, and wins. I'm thinking of Fernando, Alex, myself, and also drivers like Checo or Valtteri, who you've seen battle at the front without making the mistakes or suffering the accidents typical of the back rows. At the back of the grid, there's much more dirty air, heightened concertina effect, and situations where you find yourself three or four-wide in corners, dramatically increasing the likelihood of contact compared to the front of the race, where after Turn 1 everyone is in single file. None of us wants to be there, much less enjoy it. The frustration is common to all of us because we want to be at the top.” “As for Fernando's comments about the overall level of the drivers being low, I've been in F1 for 12 years, and this is, without a doubt, the year with the highest level of talent ever. I can't think of a single driver who isn't up to the level of Formula 1, and even the rookies who have arrived in recent years are excellent. We all make mistakes. I made them when I was young, and I still make them today, as you've seen this year, but I prefer to think that the high concentration of accidents at the back is purely circumstantial and not due to the quality of the grid. Perhaps in Fernando's case, there's also the personal frustration of thinking he doesn't deserve that position, but I can only speak for myself: it's extremely frustrating to think that two years ago I was winning here in Mexico, and this weekend I'll probably start 17th, despite being the same driver I was then, if not even better.”