F1 should "think about 25 two-lap races" - Fernando Alonso

Azerbaijan Grand Prix

F1 should "think about 25 two-lap races" - Alonso

Alonso raced from 10th to sixth in the closing dash to the finish

Ewan Gale

Thursday 10 June 2021 09:30 Updated: 11:23

Fernando Alonso joked F1 should think about holding "25 two-lap races" after Sunday's frantic dash to the flag in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Max Verstappen's late tyre failure prompted a red-flag delay and a subsequent restart on the grid with just two laps remaining, with the following sprint providing a multitude of overtakes on the streets of Baku.

Alonso made up four places from 10th to sixth in the chaos and believed the result was just reward for Alpine's efforts.

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"We need to think about many two-lap races, you know 25 two-lap races because it was fun," joked Alonso.

"People [were] being very aggressive on those two laps because you didn't need to look after tyres or anything so that was fun and I think the weekend was very solid for us.

"Tenth, which was our position in the race, was too little reward for what we have done so I am happy with sixth because I think the team deserved it."

Alpine "lucky" after early lack of pace

Alonso recovered after making an early pit stop to attempt an undercut on his nearest rivals before making a second pit stop behind the first safety car caused by Lance Stroll's tyre failure.

Asked if the early lack of pace on his hard-compound tyres was a surprise, Alonso replied: "A little bit. The FP2 long runs felt okay but early on in the race, we were three or four-tenths slower than the people around us.

"We were trying to be creative with the strategy to undercut people around and taking the first safety car... gambling with the soft tyre but any strategy when you are a little bit slow, it doesn't work.

"We got lucky at the end to have another opportunity."