"Completely bored" Alonso rues luck as double contact wrecks Turkey hopes

Turkish Grand Prix

"Completely bored" Alonso rues luck as double contact wrecks Turkey hopes

Alonso was spun around by Gasly at turn one

Ewan Gale

Sunday 10 October 2021 19:20

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Fernando Alonso was left to bemoan his run of bad luck this year after a first top-five qualifying performance since 2014 evaporated at the first corner of a 'boring' Turkish Grand Prix.

Alonso was on the outside of Pierre Gasly and Sergio Perez through turn one in the difficult damp conditions at Istanbul Park but was hit by the Frenchman's AlphaTauri as he understeered in trying to avoid the Mexican diving down the inside.

The move led to Gasly being handed a five-second time penalty by the stewards who swiftly handed Alonso the same punishment when he punted Haas' Mick Schumacher at turn four on the following lap.

"An unlucky race for us," assessed Alonso, who finished a lowly 16th.

"We qualified so well in P5 for the first time this year and we were P5 for only 200 metres. After that, we were facing backwards.

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"It is a little bit of a shame because I think the luck is not with us this year. Even after that, we were P17 and nothing else happened in the race. Completely bored behind everyone so I guess we are accumulating a lot of luck for next year."

Ocon made "risky bet" work

Alpine team-mate Esteban Ocon collected a single point after finishing 10th, despite being the only driver to complete the race distance without stopping for a second set of tyres.

The gamble almost backfired with Antonio Giovinazzi outpacing Ocon by some four seconds on the final lap of the race, with the margin between the two just seven-tenths of a second.

"It was pretty difficult," said Ocon. "But we gave a good break to the guys in the crew. They have had enough of pit stops for the whole year, let's try without!

"More seriously, I think it was tricky in the end. A couple more corners and I would lose that point.

"It is good to have that reward in the end. I am pretty pleased to get that point for everybody but one more lap I think I would have also got a puncture. It was a risky bet but we made it work today."