Fernando Alonso praised the “outstanding” level of driving displayed by his Formula 1 rivals at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
The Baku City Circuit is a complex mix of tight, twisty corners and super-fast straights with the added complication of a dusty track surface.
Last Sunday’s race saw a tight three-battle for the win and several fights throughout the field, with only one major incident occurring throughout.
Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez’s Lap 50 incident aside, Alonso, the veteran of the F1 paddock, was impressed by the commitment levels shown by his competitors.
“I think the level of risk and precision that you have to apply in a race like today is outstanding, for everybody, all 20 drivers,” Alonso said post-race (via RacingNews365).
“With a low level of grip, I think we were driving close to 100% every lap.
“It was very impressive that there was no safety car or no accident happened in the race.
“It was no different for us, obviously, Monza P11, not really any prize from that race, and here a lot of points, so one compensated the other.”
Alonso: Aston Martin ‘executed the race well’
Alonso spent the majority of the race battling with Williams and Haas for the fringe points places, after starting seventh on the grid.
Williams split their strategies to cope with the Spaniard with Franco Colapinto switching from Mediums to Hards at the end of Lap 10.
Alonso successfully covered off Colapinto a lap later and found himself ahead of both Williams drivers late on after Alex Albon completed his long opening stint.
With Sainz and Perez crashing out of contention late on, Alonso came home in sixth, his biggest points haul (8) since the Canadian GP in June.
“On a normal weekend, only ninth and 10th is available for the midfield teams,” he said.
“Thanks to some action in front of us, sixth was available and we were there to take it.
“We were flexible, one or two stops are still working for us.
“So we followed more or less the trend, and whatever the people around us were doing, we copied and mirrored the strategy.
“We were able to maintain the position with Franco, Alex and Nico [Hulkenberg] at one point.
“Tough race, obviously, no time to relax, but in a way, well executed. Good pit stops with the strategy, good tyre degradation.
“So maybe not super pace this weekend, but we still executed the race well enough to score a lot of points.”
