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Fernando Alonso had a hit-and-miss weekend at the F1 Austrian GP. The Spaniard was fast in every session but his qualifying was hampered by a broken floor in Q3. Things got worse in the Sprint race when an undetected electric issue forced a DNS. To cap it all off, the driver was forced to do a third pit stop because of the vibrations in his tires.
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Speaking to Sky Sports after the race, Fernando Alonso was asked if P10 was a good result for the team. The Spaniard replied in the negative and said:
“No, no, I was P6 until the double stop at the end, so from P6 to P10. So another eight points in the bin today. No I think the wheel was okay but I had huge vibrations on that set, so we needed to see what was there and I had to stop again. I was P14 when I was going out, instead of the eighth that I think I could have been, and from P14 we took some places until P10.”
It's hard to disagree that a P5-P6 result for Alpine was there for the taking and if Fernando Alonso had not suffered from a poor second pit stop, he could have perhaps been right behind Esteban Ocon in P6 at the end of the race.
Fernando Alonso feels that the Alpine was fourth fastest in Austria
Looking back at the race, Fernando Alonso admitted that it was good fun as the car was fast, and starting from P19 and being in line to finish P6 is a big achievement for the team. He said:
“It was good fun and the car was mega fast today, starting 19th and possibility of finishing sixth means a lot for us. But the points keep avoiding us, but still good fun.”
Fernando Alonso was even asked if he felt that Alpine was now the fourth fastest team on the grid, to which the Spaniard replied in the affirmative and was positive about the prospect of fighting for P4 in the championship with McLaren. He said:
“Yeah, sure. This weekend we were flying. I’m happy that we took some points with him and this, and let’s see in the next couple of races if we can score with both cars and fight McLaren for the top four in the Championship.”
The Spaniard has been growing with the team and it has been interesting to see his progress over the first half of the season.
