Alonso: “The world is upside down, but welcome”

Fernando Alonso is satisfied. He started from 20th spot in front of his men on a circuit which theory says is hard to reach. Also, he made it to a Alpine who suffered a lot of damage at the start of the course in a race like in Barcelona, ​​which was very hot and where the tires would suffer hard. It seemed everyone was against him, but he finished a great career to finish 9th, earning a total of 11 positions.

The Spaniard told the Spanish newspaper present at Montmelotheirs MD, who got 8 positions in his first stint due to the car’s superb performance, as he was in an area of ​​the grid that didn’t match him in terms of speed. And later, he featured the areas he captured using the strategy, choosing to stop earlier in his first stint. The Spanish driver believes that his best result in this race could be sixth or seventh if he started in his natural position and stressed the importance of Alpine taking steps forward in the evolution of the car.

STRATEGY

“I don’t know. Depends. It’s always hard to tell because the tire is wearing a lot now. Depending on how much you throw you can load the approach quickly. We had a pretty regular pit stop, the latter, but on I don’t think it will change because Norris is too far away.

“We started this weekend, sacrificed a bit this weekend by changing the engine and all because we had to take a penalty in Baku. And we didn’t want to start on the 17th here and 20th in Baku. So we sacrificed this GP and still get points. And later you start at 5th or 6th on the grid and you don’t get any points. So the world is upside down, but welcome now. “

ERRORS ON CURVE 4 AND WITH HIGH DEGRADATION

“It was complicated, really. The high temperature did not help the grip of the car and especially the tires and there was more air than on other days. So, it’s really complicated. And managing the wheels … it’s hard to comprehend how much you can push because you did one lap faster than the other, and suddenly you had three laps of extreme heat and wear, so you slowed down but you caught the back and if you get caught then you’ve overheated the tires, so it’s hard to manage now. ”

THE PERFORMANCE OF THE CAR

“Only Leclerc is lacking in height, right? Well, we would have been 10th. And if he started in the normal position he was in the 8th or 9th. 8 and 9 are our positions. I don’t think the car is good now. 8 and 9 are the positions we usually fight for in the race. We’re usually with Bottas, McLaren … and sometimes in the test of time we seem to be ahead of Alfa Romeo and the McLaren. And in some races we were close to Mercedes, now I think not. Let’s see if we can finish a normal weekend, because on this one, even after the ninth, you always think you’re going to finish the sixth or seventh with a normal time test and a normal stop. There’s always ‘if this happens normally, I’m one or two positions ahead’. Let’s see if our weekend is good and we don’t have a taste in our mouths that we have done something ”.

WON 8 PLACES IN FIRST STINT

“On the first stint we stuck eight cars because we were fighting out of position. When you fought with the Williams, with full respect, and with some of the cars we had in that group, they were easy to overtake, and then you get to a position where you are stuck because you were there.should be.We have to stop because I have 2 Alpha Tauri, the two McLaren and Ocon, we are all in a group.And also thanks to that stop that was passed I did two or three, that is, I took two or three on the road. Although the tires were fine, the decision to stop or not to stop was a coin toss. We could have pushed a little more, but we passed two or three cars that made the second stint easier for us “

EVOLUTION

“Yes, we need to improve there. The good thing is they are public this year and I don’t have to say anything myself (laughs). You see the piece of paper every Friday and we already have a few Fridays missing. And it’s easy to get into Q3 in the early races, probably costing us more now. In Miami it’s 11th, in Imola because it’s raining, but we’re not regular. Here we went on the 12th and 17th … so we had the best in that aspect. But hey, I’m calm. There are some things to come. ”