Alonso has rewatched Baku restart ‘several times’

Fernando Alonso has admitted that he has rewatched his stunning final few laps of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix a number of times.

For the majority of the race in Baku, it looked like the Spaniard would finish low down in the top 10 at best, but the Red Flag that was brought out with just two laps left gave him an opportunity to move up the order, and he took it in style.

Restarting the race in P10, he fought his way up to P6, passing three cars on track and benefitting from Lewis Hamilton’s error.

Almost two weeks on, he is still watching it back, and says that the choice of tyre was key to his late charge.

“It was a lot of fun and I have seen the recording onboard several times,” he said as per www.caranddriver.com.

“We were very lucky that the Red Flag produced a highlight, but we were given the opportunity and we took it. You have to take advantage of these moments during the season.

“Our tyre choice after the red flag was smart and we seemed to have immediate grip on the first lap of the restart so we were able to try some bold moves at Turn 1.

“Then overtaking at Turn 5 is not normally the place where you can make a move, but we did it.”

Can’t have enough #MondayMotivation 🚀#AzerbaijanGP
pic.twitter.com/tSsquUNTZ6

— Alpine F1 Team (@AlpineF1Team) June 7, 2021

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Despite his excellent result, Alonso was not too pleased with the outright pace of his Alpine in Baku, feeling that the streets circuits there and in Monaco didn’t suit the team.

Given that, he’s pleased to be heading to Paul Ricard next and is glad he can get away with errors more there.

“I’ve had good results in Formula 1 and other motorsport categories in this country, but the Paul Ricard circuit is actually a track that I don’t know that well, as I’ve only raced here once in Formula 1,” he added.

“The track has come back with some minor adjustments to help improve the racing, so we will evaluate it early in the weekend.

“There are quite a few asphalt run-off areas around the circuit, which means that any mistakes are less likely to be punished by the barriers.

“This will be different from what we experience in both Monaco and Baku and hopefully, we can put on a show for the fans.”

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