This brilliant opening round and the subsequent strict 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.
OPINION: The successes and warning signals from the first F1 sprint race
However, Alpine felt that the Soft would be a better choice. After a few miles in final practice, there was confidence that it would bring an advantage at the start and that its 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 reveal what everyone else had chosen, it was shocked that so few of his rivals agreed with his choice.
With a total of only four cars conquering the points – the two Alpines, Valtteri Bottas and Kimi Räikkönen – she knew that she was in the minority.
Alpine F1 managing director Marcin Budkowski says it was at precisely this point that everyone sitting at the pit wall turned to look at the strategist.
“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 soft, meant that Alonso could not stop the McLaren duo Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo, his seventh place at the finish was still a great result.
Budkowski was full of praise for the way Alonso approached the first 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 skills are 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. “
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