Alonso remembers last year’s race in Baku

Last year Fernando Alonso took 6th place in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, although he only had a few laps left in 10th place. However, after Max Verstappen’s accident and retirement, a restart was given, which Spanish racer Alpine did brilliantly, ahead of several rivals in the first corners of the city circuit.

Before the Baku stage of the championship, the two-time world champion remembered what it was like…

Fernando Alonso: “At the restart, I first had an opponent ahead, then the second, when I noticed how Carlos Sainz was in the relegation zone (in the 2nd inning) and thought he was probably going to spend a holiday in Baku, so I decided to to look at the apartments in the center.

It is very difficult to warm up tires on Baku City Circuit, especially when there are only two laps left before the end of the race after the restart. But in my opinion my car then had a new set of rubber, which of course gave a certain advantage.

Then I overtook Yuki Tsunoda in turn 5, but the next right turn, not very pleasant, there is quite uneven pavement, and I was afraid to lock the wheels because then I would lose everything I managed to regain . At that point I already had a lead of three and fourth was Lewis, who flew off the track on the restart. But then I didn’t even notice we were regaining a position again, because he was out of my line of sight.

But then I had to hold on for one more lap, although we passed the start-finish line twice, and there I was again afraid I would lose some positions. I couldn’t use the slipstream and the rivals I was ahead of me followed closely behind.

But since there was only one lap to go and there was quite a bit of charge left in the battery of the ERS system, I was able to use all this energy to defend my position. So it ended well…

Overall, it’s great to race in Baku if they restart a few times during the race or the safety car leaves because there’s a lot going on on the long straight. I hope we can use it again this time.”