“We played the race like chess”: Fernando Alonso surprised by Alpine beating McLaren

Fernando Alonso was overwhelmed by his Alpine’s pace in the 2022 French GP after fending off Lando Norris’s McLaren.

Fernando Alonso finished P6 in the 2022 French GP. And the 41-year-old celebrates this as a hard-fought yet deserving victory for the French team.

Alpine are neck-to-neck with McLaren in the midfield battle. Both teams brought vital upgrades to Paul Ricard for the added pace advantage.

The Mclaren of Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo out-qualified both the Alpine drivers on Saturday. The British team were much quicker on a single lap with less fuel. But the French made their upgrades count for their home race.

Alonso made a fine start, going from P7 to P5 and maintained his lead over Lando’s McLaren. His teammate Esteban Ocon too finished P8, ahead of Ricciardo.

 

The drivers gifted the French team double points. But Alonso was  “a little bit surprised” with the pace shown by his car. He was far faster than Lando who was wearing out his tyres in order to catch up to the 2-time World Champion.

Alonso said, “It was a well-executed race from our side. We were a little bit concerned at the beginning of the weekend that our pace was not great. But we ended up just behind the top three teams in our normal position.”

He added, “I think we played the race like a chess game. We tried to position the McLarens close to us and try to have some clear air in front.”

And with the home GP result, Alpine edged past McLaren in the Constructor’s Championship. The French team are P4 with a 4-point lead heading to the Hungarian GP on 29-31 July.

Also Read: Fernando Alonso intentionally slowed down to spoil McLaren drivers’ tyres at French GP

Fernando Alonso is an F1 Record holder

Fernando Alonso has had a long and distinct career in F1. The Spaniard won the Drivers’ Championships in 2005 and 2006. And became the youngest world champion in the sport’s history at the time.

With 32 wins and 345 Race starts, he is amongst F1’s best drivers. And the Spaniard broke another all-time F1 record.

Fernando Alonso broke the all-time record for laps completed in Formula 1. He has completed 18672 laps in F1, passing former teammate Kimi Raikkonen’s mark of 18,621.

The 41-year-old is still going fine at this age. Along with pace, the Spaniard displays his experience, gaining important points for Alpine. He currently stands 10th in the standings with 37 points after the French GP.

Also Read: “You’re 2 seconds slower than Fernando Alonso!”- When Renault’s race engineer bashed 3-time race winning F1 driver on team radio