Fernando Alonso reveals that he and Aston Martin discussed attacking Max Verstappen post red flag re-start in F1 Dutch GP.
A moment for Red Bull’s Sergio Perez before the red flag in F1 Dutch GP helped Aston Martin’s Alonso to take second in the standings. Even though chances were slim for the Spaniard to pass the Dutchman and held onto the lead, it was still discussed.
Alonso actually attacked Verstappen at the re-start and pulled out a gap to Perez. But it was short-lived as the Dutchman eventually found his rhythm to stretch a lead and win the F1 Dutch GP. Post-race, he noted how they were discussing to take on the Red Bull driver.
“I was thinking about trying,” said Alonso. “So I was not conservative, let’s say! I thought about what to do, a lot, in the red flag period. So I thought, what were the possibilities, obviously, the move into Turn 2 was something that was in my head, also into Turn 1. I discussed it with the team as well. That was my feeling, that I wanted to try today.
“But obviously, I don’t want to compromise any big points for the team, because second was very important as well. But they were happy with me to try. I think they have the trust in me as well and in whatever I decide. So yeah, at the restart, I tried in Turn 4 launching the lap, trying to be flat in the banking with the cold tyres, which is a little bit risky, and tried to be side-by-side at least into Turn 1 but I was not that close.
“So after that I tried some different lines – inside, outside – the opposite of Max for the first lap, in case one of the lines was very grippy or much grippier than he is. And yeah, it was close, but not enough,” summed up Alonso, who made his return to the podium after few races of struggle to crack the Top 3 unlike the start of the season.
The push from Alonso was noticed by Verstappen too. “The final restart, you know, with seven laps ago, six laps to go or whatever, I knew that my first lap the whole weekend already has not been the best with warm-up, so I knew that I had to survive that first lap,” he said. “And yeah, Fernando was pushing very hard behind and I could see him close in my mirrors. But once I had the temperature in my tyres it was all well balanced again.”
Here’s how F1 Dutch GP panned out
