When Alonso began struggling with grit on his midsize tires, he was overtaken by both McLarens and Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel.
With the Spaniard struggling and teammate Esteban Ocon just behind, Alpine ordered Alonso to switch so Ocon would have clean air after starting out on the more durable hard tires.
Alonso replied to the Alpine team order: “Basically, I would rather stop. I’ll do this on round 1 if you want, but I’ll lose two or three seconds. Maybe it is better to stop ”.
With Lance Stroll right behind Ocon, Alonso didn’t want to waste any unnecessary time in his battle with the Aston Martins.
On the subject of matching items
Explaining the team order discussion, he said, “Of course we talked about that this could be a possibility in the race as we started on different tires so we can meet in a moment of the race. But we stopped either this round or the next. While Esteban was struggling with the Aston Martin, it might not be the best moment.
“I stopped on the following lap and I think it was the best decision to give him free rein. Ideally, I could have stopped a few laps later without Esteban behind me, but of course we didn’t want to stop him. “
On the subject of matching items
After struggling with the media, Alonso blossomed on the hards as he recovered and finished eighth after overtaking both Ferraris and keeping the two Aston Martins at bay in the final laps.
“It was a good Sunday,” added Alonso. “Good points for the team, another four points in my pocket, from ninth place to eighth place I think the race will be good. Finishing ahead of both Ferraris and Aston Martin was a good race in terms of points and results in my opinion, so I’m happy with that.
“In Baku we were in Q3 and were P6, in Paul Ricard we were in Q3 and were P8. I think we’re getting better and better and I’m happy. “
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