Fernando Alonso has doubled down on comments he made about driving standards following the United States Grand Prix.

His car damaged following a first lap clash with Alex Albon, the Spaniard's race was compromised from there on in, ironically finishing the race just ahead of the Williams driver.

"When you start at the back, there is always this risk," he subsequently told reporters. "I think the quality of the drivers in the low third of the grid is very low, as we saw today with Alex. So I think we need to improve the car and start a little bit higher up."

Asked in Mexico today, if he still stood behind his comment or whether he had spoken in the heat of the moment, the two-time world champion replied: "I don't know if it's one third of the grid, because then I saw some reports trying to pick out eight drivers or seven drivers.

"I'm not specific on the number of them," he continued, "but I think we all know which ones we talk about and which ones felt hit by that comment.

"That tells you everything, so I still feel the same," he insisted. "That was a mistake that was not needed and I still find it difficult to understand what the opportunity was that Alex saw in that moment.

"But it's not only Austin," he continued. "Unfortunately, I've been in that part of the race for the whole season, so I see things from the car that I cannot tell you."

Asked if he feels there has been a general decline in standards, he said: No, I think it's the same over the years. Obviously, when you are at the back of the grid, the cars are more difficult to drive. They have less grip and mistakes are coming more often because you don't have the environment that is under control. The car does not welcome you in a nice way, so you make more mistakes.

"But I feel that all the incidents in lap one, all the touches, all the front wings that fly around, all these kind of things are not necessary. Especially if you are fighting for nothing at the back of the grid.

"There is the cost cap also adding to this problem, but if their teams are happy with the cost cap and breaking things every race, it's ok for them."

The stewards took no action over the clash, effectively seeing it as a 'lap one incident', but even so, Alonso does not feel that driving standards are not down to the stewards but the drivers themselves.

"It's not their job unless there is something clearly unsafe," he said. "It's not part of the stewards' job. It's just whatever ambition those drivers have, whatever they want for the future.

"If they want to stay in Formula 1 for longer, if they want to have an opportunity to get into a bigger team, or if they are happy to crash."

Asked about Alonso's doubling down, Albon said: "Firstly, I would say that I hugely respect Fernando. I think he's a great driver, and I've looked up to him a lot growing up as a kid.

"I think we're all in our own little fight at the back," he continued. "I don't think it's so much about the level of the drivers. Obviously, last year we had a great season, and this year we're at the back, I think, the group of us, including Checo. But if anything, I would say the grid's the strongest it's been for a while. Obviously, post-race comments are always a little bit more in the heat of the moment, so you can take them with a pinch of salt.

"I thought it was a good battle," he added. "I thought we had a good scrap, clearly he didn't think the same thing. It was a race-long battle. Even the incident itself, I thought, was quite 50-50 in terms of where the cars were on track."