Alonso with a Code Brown maneuver | F1 Insider.com

Fernando Alonso plows his way to seventh place in China. Then he protects himself from negative voices.

Fernando Alonso didn’t let it spoil his mood. For him, the low tone in the interview after his seventh place in the fifth race of the season in China was all too familiar.

“I don’t see that much negativity at all. “It’s difficult for me every time I talk to you,” the Spaniard told Sky England’s reporter, remaining friendly but firm. And it was no longer in his book Aston Martin, insisted the Spaniard: “No, not at all. This was the best possible place. In fact, we shouldn’t be ahead of McLaren or Mercedes at all. We are facing Piastri and Hamilton, two miracles in one,” he stressed.

Alonso started the race from third position and provided a lot of entertainment. Starting with an extreme maneuver against Sergio Perez at the start, the subsequent tire wear problems, a surprising tire change and a surprising comeback including “Code Brown”.

Alonso: Why a soft tire?

Formula 1 Alonso Aston Martin China — Fernando Alonso. Credit: Aston Martin

After advancing to second place, Alonso was quickly pushed back. The fact that he later installed a soft tire, to everyone’s surprise, was because Aston Martin no longer had a hard compound.

“We had a smooth and medium with 35 laps ahead of us which, according to our calculations, we could not finish,” Alonso said. That’s why first there were soft and later mediums.

So he jumped out of the top 10, but after the last stop he jumped into the field. There was a real shock moment with a cross at the start-end (“Code Brown”), but Alonso handled it brilliantly. The rest were weak race art. He also got an extra point for the fastest lap.

That’s why Alonso grinned wider to show that he was more satisfied. Even if parts of the platform are not currently accessible. “Yesterday in the race we were second fastest to the top teams in the race. It feels unreal compared to Saturday,” Alonso said.

It was an unreal good start and a good finish at the end with seventh place, said the two-time world champion. “Of course we want to be better, to fight for the podium and improve the pace of the race, but we expected to be a top five team in the first few races. We are in ninth place in a row. Iam so happy”.

The Aston Martin team boss talks about damage control

His team boss was not as happy as Alonso and spoke of the damage barrier. “Seventh place plus fastest lap gives us a few points,” Mike Krack said.

However, the Luxembourger once again emphasized the importance of extending Alonso’s contract: “We don’t need to talk about sports, you can see that in the results week after week. In addition, it is very positive for us to have someone in development who is leading us a lot. This gives energy to everyone and is very important in this phase of construction.

At least as long as Alonso doesn’t let his condition deteriorate.

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Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix
Results

1. Max Verstappen (Netherlands) – Red Bull 1:40:52.554 hours.
2. Lando Norris (Great Britain) – McLaren +13.773 sec.
3. Sergio Perez (Mexico) – Red Bull +19,160
4. Charles Leclerc (Monaco) – Ferrari +23,623
5. Carlos Sainz Jr. (Spanish) – Ferrari +33,983
6. George Russell (England) – Mercedes +38,724
7. Fernando Alonso (Spanish) – Aston Martin +43,414
8. Oscar Piastri (Australia) – McLaren +56.198
9. Lewis Hamilton (England) – Mercedes +57,986
10. Nico Hülkenberg (Emmerich) – Haas +1: 00.476 min.

Formula 1 driver position
He has stopped after 5 of 24 races

1. Max Verstappen (Netherlands) – Red Bull 110 points.
2. Sergio Perez (Mexico) – Red Bull 85
3. Charles Leclerc (Monaco) – Ferrari 76
4. Carlos Sainz Jr. (Spanish) – Ferrari 69
5. Lando Norris (England) – McLaren 58
6. Oscar Piastri (Australia) – McLaren 38
7. George Russell (England) – Mercedes 33
8. Fernando Alonso (Spanish) – Aston Martin 31
9. Lewis Hamilton (England) – Mercedes 19
10. Lance Stroll (Canada) – Aston Martin 9