Alonso and his “70 qualifying laps” in Zandvoort

Condemned to start out the Dutch Grand Prix in thirteenth place after crossing paths with a gradual Sergio Pérez in qualifying, Fernando Alonso managed to take advantage of the numerous twists and turns of the race to clinch the eight factors from sixth place.

The Alpine driver notably benefited from an undercut and a swap to arduous tires to enter the highest 10 within the first half of the Grand Prix, then from the efficiency supplied by the tender compound when the Digital Security Automotive appeared to win. just a few extra positions.

After the race, Alonso revealed that he had no time to loosen up behind the wheel of the A522 as a result of depth of the race. “It was 70 qualifying laps as a result of we could not loosen up at any time”he defined. “The beginning was good however I misplaced positions on the skin of Flip 1 so I needed to struggle actually arduous to get better some, then we put the [pneus] powerful and we needed to push actually arduous to make this second stint work.”

“After which, after we thought the tip of the race was extra relaxed, with good freshness within the tyres, the protection automotive got here and we needed to struggle once more for the final 12 laps. It was a really demanding race, that is for positive.”

Fernando Alonso on the heels of Lando Norris

Coming again on the heels of Carlos Sainz, fifth, and Sergio Pérez, sixth after the regrouping of the peloton by the Security Automotive, Alonso took a dim view of the bitter wrestle between his two adversaries as a result of it additionally allowed Lando Norris to place strain on him. Ultimately, the Spaniard was not overtaken, and the penalty imposed on Sainz even made him achieve a place.

“I knew Carlos had the five-second penalty, so I did not need them to struggle an excessive amount of and get me in hassle with the automotive behind.Alonso mentioned. “It was an excellent race and a profitable place on the finish; we did it at Spa [en dépassant] a Ferrari and right here [en dépassant] a Ferrari too. So we all the time win a place!”

The sixth place of Fernando Alonso, related to the ninth of Esteban Ocon, permits Alpine to take off within the constructors’ classification. The French staff, in fourth place, is now 24 factors forward of McLaren.