The extraordinary Sunday experienced by Alpine in Qatar could have definitively addressed the direct challenge between the French team and AlphaTauri in the race for fifth place among the constructors. Fernando Alonso’s third place – on his first career podium since 2014 – and fifth from Esteban Ocon allowed the former Renault team to take home a haul of 25 points, while the Faenza team remained at the post, despite the umpteenth super qualification of Pierre Gasly which had allowed the native of Rouen to start even from the front row after the penalties of Verstappen and Bottas. However, after Alonso overtook the former Red Bull driver during the first lap, the race of the winner of Monza 2020 went worse and worse, lap after lap.
The Frenchman crossed the line in 11th place, also behind Sebastian Vettel, who with Aston Martin was 18th after the first corner. Speaking to his pit wall at the end of the race, Gasly expressed all his frustration, also showing himself quite surprised by the Alpine results and by the pace shown in the race by the two A521s. “Where did the Alpines end up? “ asks # 10 of the AlphaTauri to his track engineer at the end of the race. “Third and fifth“, The laconic answer of the pits. “Third? – Gasly wonders – yes, honestly Alonso’s pace in the first stint was shocking. I don’t understand how they manage to do these lap times “.
With two GPs still to be played, the Italian team would now need a half miracle to be able to close the gap from the French team. A big problem is also represented by the continuous difficulties revealed by Yuki Tsunoda. The Japanese has only scored once since after the summer break, finishing ninth in Austin. In the same period only Latifi, Giovinazzi and the two Haas drivers gained fewer points.
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