Alonso: Our car was not fast

After the race, Fernando Alonso started the traditional communication with the Spanish press asking: “And who became the rider of the day?”

According to the results of the fans’ vote, Lewis Hamilton took first place in this rating, who, after contact with Kevin Magnussen at the start of the race, a puncture and a forced extra pit stop, managed to break through to 5th. place place from last position.

The Spaniard finished fifth in the Rider of the Day rankings, which is well deserved as after replacing the powerplant with his Alpine A522, he started last, finished ninth and earned points. Winning 11 positions on a track that is not easy to overtake, and even in extreme heat, is also a remarkable achievement.

“We had to solve difficult problems because at such high temperatures the tires did not work properly, the car slipped and was also affected by the wind, which was stronger than the previous days,” AS newspaper quoted Alonso as saying. – It was difficult to understand how aggressively you can attack on these tires once you go faster one lap, and the next three you suddenly have problems due to overheating of the rubber.

We were eight cars ahead because we started the race from a position that didn’t match our pace: it wasn’t difficult to overtake Williams, with all due respect to this team. But then I got stuck behind a group of AlphaTauri drivers, McLaren and my partner. Due to an earlier pit stop we managed to get ahead of three, although this was a risky decision as there could be a malfunction in the pits.

We decided to sacrifice the Spanish weekend and get a fine for changing the bike to avoid this in Baku. We took this step and got points for 9th place, although in previous races I could start from the middle of the top ten but didn’t earn anything at all. There seems to be something wrong in this world.

If I started from a normal position I would still finish in 8th or 9th which is about the same as our pace. Our car was not fast because in the race we were at the level of the same teams we usually compete with – these are Alfa Romeo and McLaren. In qualifying we are sometimes ahead of them, sometimes we have even managed to get closer to Mercedes, but not this time.

Now we have to have a normal weekend next weekend to get rid of the unpleasant aftertaste. Although we finished ninth, I think the car allowed us to fight for seventh. We need to increase the speed of the A522, but I am calm because I know that the team is working on technical innovations.”