Fernando Alonso brought the first Formula 1 sprint race to life at the UK Grand Prix when an inspired choice of soft tire helped catapult the field up at the start.
This brilliant opening round and the subsequent heroic defense of his positions while he maintained his rubber were the clear highlight of Saturday’s events.
But Alpine has revealed how its Pitwall crew turned to the strategist, wondering if they were geniuses or fools when the tire choice first became public.
F1 teams had a completely free choice of tire compounds for Saturday’s first Sprint Qualifying race, with the middle one being the most obvious route due to its durability.
However, Alpine felt that the Soft would be a better choice. After riding a few miles on the compound in the final practice session, there was confidence that he would bring an advantage at the start and that his deterioration could be handled enough to make it through the 17 laps.
It was therefore the only team that put their two drivers on the soft rather than the safer bet of the medium.
But when the tire covers on the starting grid fell off to show what everyone else had chosen, it was shocked that so few of its competitors were okay with his choice.
Because with a total of only four cars that took the switch – the two Alpines, Valtteri Bottas and Kimi Räikkönen – she knew that she was in the minority.
Alpine F1 managing director Marcin Budkowski says those who sat by the pit wall turned around to look at the strategist at precisely this point.
“There is this moment when all the teams remove the covers from the grid, so we sat by the pit wall and you can see all the tires,” said Budkowski.
“We thought more people would do it soft. But there we were, Valtteri and Kimi, and there wasn’t much more!
“In the end it was a team call, but the strategists were absolutely convinced that it was the right thing to do.
“There are six of us at the pit wall and the five of us turn to Matthieu [Dubois], our chief strategist looking at us and looking a bit like, ‘Okay, either we got it right or we got it spectacularly wrong and we’re going to find out!’
“And you know you got it right and hats off to you!”
Fernando Alonso, Alps A521
Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
The Soft turned out to be an inspiring choice, with Alonso making brilliant use of the tire’s additional grip and moving up from 11th on the grid to fifth on the first lap.
Although the ultimate pace of the alpine, combined with the increasing degradation of the course, meant that Alonso could not stop the McLaren duo Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo, his seventh place on the checkered flag was still a great result.
Budkowski was full of praise for the way Alonso approached the opening lap and proved to be the star of the sprint race.
“I wasn’t here in 2005-2006, I was at Ferrari, but a few people said that was how Fernando started at that time,” he said.
“And I think that’s part of the fact that he’s just clever and a bit like a fox to use every opportunity on the track. We know that his racing craft is second to none, that is where he is exceptional.
“And it could also be a bit of experience. I mean, we saw Fernando doing fine, Seb [Vettel] it was fine and Kimi was fine. So maybe there are a few people who have such a flair for such opportunities.
“It is something different. Different format, different circumstances, and maybe some people were a little wary of attacks. In Baku with Fernando we saw how, when he smells blood, he simply uses every possible gap and every opportunity. “
