Fernando Alonso said he had “one of the best” races this year at the Dutch GP in Zandvoort. The two-time Formula 1 World Champion started the Grand Prix in his Alpine from 13th place and finished sixth. In between there were “70 laps of qualifying”, as Alonso reveals.
“Because we couldn’t relax at any point,” argues the Spaniard. “The start was good but I lost places on the outside so I had to fight very hard to make up some places.” The Alpine driver laid the cornerstone for the race to catch up at the first stop: Alonso was one of the first drivers to pit on lap twelve.
“Then we did a stint on hard tires and had to push really hard for the middle stint to work.” Alonso succeeded, because after all drivers had completed their first stop, his Alpine was already in ninth place and therefore in the points.
Tire advantage nullified by SC phase
“We came into the pits very early because we wanted to have some free air in front of us,” Alonso describes the calculation behind this strategy. That worked out perfectly, also thanks to times in the middle 1:16 range. “And then of course I had a new set of softs because we didn’t get into Q3, so everything was looking good,” Alonso continued.
But the supposed advantage was ultimately none. Because the failure of Alfa Romeo driver Valtteri Bottas and the due safety car phase changed the signs fundamentally. Alonso was in seventh position at the restart, but the Alpine driver had to say goodbye to the relaxed end of the race that he had hoped for.
Lando Norris was pushing from behind with Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez fighting for P5 just ahead. “We had to fight again for the last twelve laps,” Alonso looks back. “I knew Carlos had a five second penalty so I didn’t want them to fight too hard and get me in trouble with the car behind.”
Fernando Alonso hopes for more points in Monza
His compatriot received the penalty for an unsafe release at the last stop, which saw Sainz get in the way of Alonso in the pit lane. “Of course I knew that we would win a position in the end. We won a position against Ferrari at Spa and here too. We always win a position,” Alonso continued.
Now another Formula 1 classic is coming up with the Italian Grand Prix in Monza. The track has high-speed characteristics like in Spa-Francorchamps. There, Alonso and Alpine teammate Esteban Ocon finished fifth and seventh.
A good omen? Alonso hopes so: “Our car probably has little drag, and especially compared to McLaren we look quite good on tracks with long straights. So we’ll see. I want to continue to finish in the points, that was the tenth race in the Points sequence. So let’s make it eleven!”