Alonso risked going into wall with ‘all out’ approach

Jamie Woodhouse
Fernando Alonso

Fernando Alonso back in a "very competitive state".

Fernando Alonso told his Alpine team that he was going for it at the race restart in Baku, even if he ended up in the wall.

A late tyre failure for Max Verstappen, the second such incident of the afternoon, led to a standing restart of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix with only a few laps remaining.

What followed was a mad dash to the line as drivers squabbled to gain late places, and Alonso was one of the biggest gainers, going from P10 to P6 at the chequered flag.

The Spaniard simply went for it, just as he had told Alpine that he would during the interval.

“I talked to the team before the restart and I said ‘Look, we’re going to go all out, if there’s any gap, I’m going to get in. If we lose a point, we go into the wall or we lose the front wing, well bad luck, but we will try at least,” he told DAZN F1.

“And yes, it was a very enjoyable two laps that didn’t feel like much. Almost another restart would have been nice.

“The car went very well too. The truth is that the team, the guys, have done a great job on the starts for the last three or four Grands Prix, we are always in the top three of the best starters. That helps, of course, and we took advantage of the moment.”

Fernando Alonso Alpine

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Of course though Alonso does recognise that Alpine will not always have such incidents work in their favour to snatch extra points.

“It went well, other times it goes wrong. We always try to prepare in the same way. We had that bit of luck with us as well,” he explained.

“And well, there is still work to do because I think we were a bit slow in the race up to that point. We have to keep working, but in the end a small reward that makes us happy for the afternoon.

“I think the weekend had been pretty solid and 10th was not enough of a reward for the team and for me, so I’m happier now.”

Alonso now heads into the French Grand Prix P11 in the Drivers’ Standings, a race where he expects a “new Championship” to start for himself with Alpine introducing updates to his A521.

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