Alonso questions sense behind second Austria race

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Fernando Alonso

Fernando Alonso names two tracks where he wants to spring a shock result in 2021.

Fernando Alonso has questioned the logic behind having another race at the Red Bull Ring for a second weekend in a row.

An Austrian double-header kicked off the delayed 2020 season last July, but Formula 1 has been forced into organising another double-header in the Styrian hills for the 2021 campaign  after the planned Turkish Grand Prix was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Styrian Grand Prix and the Austrian Grand Prix form a triple header with the French Grand Prix, but the first race at the Red Bull Ring did not live up to expectations after a tense, thrilling race at Paul Ricard.

And Alonso, who scratched and clawed his way to a couple of points in P9 for Alpine, is not particularly looking forward to doing it all again this upcoming weekend.

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“For next weekend we will have to think about whether it rains or something, because the cars are going to be the same,” Alonso told reporters after the Styrian Grand Prix.

“We will see a similar weekend.

“On second thought, it doesn’t really make much sense to do two grands prix on the same circuit, same cars, one weekend followed by another.

“But hey, we’ll have to wait for the weather to hopefully help a little to create some uncertainty. If not, I think we will see a re-run of this race.

“For us it will be another difficult weekend. A couple of points or a point will be the maximum.”

An active effort was made to try and spice up the second race at the Red Bull Ring, but a reverse track race was ultimately ruled out on safety grounds and a sprint race weekend was not granted either due to Silverstone paying a substantial amount to be the first venue to host Formula 1’s new trial format.

Instead, unless the rain gods arrive in Austria, the only variation coming is a softer tyre allocation from Pirelli.

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