Alonso, demanding: “By stopping when I had to I could be sixth”

Fernando Alonso10th on the grid in Japan, He opted for an exit strategy with soft tires to try to recover positions and was rewarded, gaining four positions before the first corner. But after the first safety car Aston Martin called him to the pits before his rivals stopped and in both of his pitstops he opted for the hard compound, losing several positions that ultimately left him eighth.

A good result, scoring and in the front zone, taking into account that his car is increasingly less competitive this season and even less so in a high speed circuit like Suzuka.

“The race was good and better than expected, the truth is, we had a very good pace and the start was logically very good, going from 10th to 6th. I was comfortable in the first part of the race, behind the Ferrari and ahead of Lewis Hamilton, and suddenly when they called me to the pits, I think it was too soon,” Alonso considered in a critical tone.

“I think it was to cover Tsunoda, but today our race was not with Tsunoda but rather with the Ferraris and Mercedes, so there we already got into a spiral that was difficult to get out of,” he continued, referring to the unambitious strategy of his team.

Fernando has also emphasized one of the main problems of his car when entering traffic: “We have a great lack of top speedwe open the DRS and the car in front still escapes us with our DRS open, so the truth is that when you are in traffic our race becomes quite complicated,” he explained.

The good news for Alonso is that Aston Martin’s pace has been better than expected, with performance similar to Ferrari and Mercedes.

“In qualifying we were far from the best, but in the race I think that stopping when everyone stopped at the first stop and having two hard guys, unlike McLaren and Ferrari, I think we could have finished sixth or seventh for sure, ahead of George Russell , so it has been a bit of a positive surprise,” concluded the two-time Spanish champion.

2023-09-24 08:10:37
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