Fernando Alonso: Le Mans luck payback for F1 misfortune

Fernando Alonso

Alonso: Le Mans luck payback for F1 misfortune

Fernando admitted the Le Mans win was a lucky one.

Matthew Scott

Tuesday 18 June 2019 09:09

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Fernando Alonso says some of the bad luck that denied him adding to his two Formula 1 world championships was perhaps paid back in his fortuitous Le Mans 24 Hours victory that saw him crowned a world champion for the third time.

Alonso added World Endurance Championship glory to his pair of F1 titles won in 2005 and 2006 with victory at Le Mans on Sunday.

The Spaniard's #8 Toyota crew beat their sister team in the #7 car, largely thanks to them suffering a costly puncture in the closing stages of the race.

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Alonso, Sebastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima would have been crowned title-winner with a second-place finish regardless, but the veteran Spaniard felt some sort of karmic payback in a Le Mans win he admitted was more down to luck than skill.

"To win two of two in Le Mans is something incredible," said Alonso.

"These kinds of races are like a rollercoaster of emotions, sometimes you are two minutes behind, sometimes you are leading.

"It was a shocking race. We didn't have the pace to win the race, the #7 car was quicker than us for 24 hours and we didn't deserve the victory maybe, but we were lucky and it helped us to get the victory.

"In other occasions it took us off some F1 championships and they are tough moments when you are on one side and happy moments when you are on the other side.

"The good luck was on our side but other races or F1 championships were gone inexplicably and we have to enjoy to be on this side."