Fernando Alonso 'risk' not rewarded despite confirming Alpine pace

Alonso for Alpine at the SpanishGP — Photo: © LAT Images

Spanish Grand Prix

Alonso 'risk' not rewarded despite confirming Alpine pace

Alonso finsihed 17th after a strategy gamble

Ian Parkes & Ewan Gale

Monday 10 May 2021 15:32

Fernando Alonso believes the Spanish Grand Prix proved Alpine has taken a step forward despite a "risky" strategy that wrecked his chance of a points finish.

The Spanish driver took the chequered flag at his home race in a lowly 17th after a late pit-stop demoted him from the battle for points due to struggles at the end of an extended middle stint on medium tyres.

Despite failing to emulate team-mate Esteban Ocon and score a top-10 finish, Alonso conceded he would have failed to score even without the strategy chosen by the team.

"It was risky," said Alonso. "We were P11 on lap 20-something when we started to stop.

"We had to respond to [Pierre] Gasly who stopped on lap 23 or 24 but we were P11 and I think the best way to score was to [take a] risk, and we took a big risk.

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"It didn't work because we finished the tyres at the end but if we didn't do that and we had stayed out then probably Gasly and Vettel would have overtaken us and then you are P12 or P13 for the remainder of the race so it was difficult."

The midfield duel was even tighter in Spain than in previous races, with Alonso engaged in a battle with both Aston Martins, Gasly and Russell ahead of his second stop.

"It was fun," he added. "I really enjoyed it. First, it was Barcelona so it was a special Sunday for me.

"The grandstands only had 1,000 people but you feel a bit of adrenaline when you see the fans and the speaker saying your name. It was more special than the other three.

"The race was fun with a lot of battles and different tyre strategies. We would love to have had a better finishing position and to score points, [but] it was not possible. But the weekend, in general, was more positive.

"In Portimão, we were competitive but we didn't know if it was only Portimão because of the circuit.

"But here we were competitive again. I think we can be the fifth team behind Ferrari and McLaren and this is good news because in the first two races it was more difficult to be in Q3."