Fernando Alonso revealed that he had to make an additional pit stop during the Austrian GP because of tire vibrations.
Alonso started the race at the Red Bull Ring from the pit lane after taking a new power unit. The Spaniard got to P6 during the race, but after taking medium tires on lap 58 he went to the pits again. As a result, Alonso lost several positions and finished the race 10th after overtaking Valtteri Bottas on the final lap.
Alonso was delighted with his performance and stated that tire vibrations triggered another pit stop.
“A point is better than nothing, even more so knowing that we started from the last row today [on Sunday]. I think it was one of my best races this season, apart from Silverstone last weekend. We were fighting for a 6th or 7th position, but I felt strange vibrations on the tires that we had just [fitted] after our second stop under the Virtual Safety Car period.
“As [the VSC was still in force], we decided to stop again to put on a new set of tires. Unfortunately, we lost a few positions with this extra stop, and we had to fight until the last laps. At the finish, we managed to finish in 10th position. So, instead of 5th and 6th today, we are 5th and 10th, so it hurts a little bit now.”
Alonso also praised Alpine’s performance during the race weekend: “This weekend we were flying. So yeah, I’m happy that we took some points with [Esteban Ocon] at least. Let’s see in the next couple of races if we can score with both cars and fight McLaren for the top 4 in the championship. It was very good race in terms of pace, I felt much faster than the cars around, which is always a good sign.
“But at the end I was fighting for P6 when we stopped, so that was the target; I was just behind Lando [Norris] with a fresh set of tires, so that would have been easy. To score a single point on this race is a bit of a shame, but we can be very happy with our overall pace and performance as a team.”
