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Alonso enjoys frustrated Hamilton: "I like to keep other drivers behind me"
- GPblog.com
Lewis Hamilton was engaged in a duel with Fernando Alonso for more than thirty laps in the Monaco Grand Prix. The Alpine driver visibly enjoyed the fact that he held up the seven-time world champion considerably and managed to keep him from getting an even better result.
Alonso explains slow pace
Alonso was running in seventh place after the restart and seemed to be able to go on the attack against Lando Norris on brand new mediums. The McLaren driver opted to run out the last 33 laps of the race on used restarts. Alonso could not keep up with his predecessor at all. At one point the difference was even more than thirty seconds.
"I ran to save, because it was still far. We knew that graining was going to be a problem, so I was careful with the tires for fifteen laps and pushed the other fifteen laps. We wrecked the tires on Friday, so knowing it was going to be a 33-lap sprint, we didn't think we had the tires to finish the race," said Alonso, who he said could do nothing but keep his rubber alive as long as possible.
The 40-year-old driver was enjoying himself Sunday afternoon, he says in conversation with AS. "This is Monaco and I like to keep other drivers behind me." Hamilton tried for a long time to get alongside, but the moment Alonso started to pick up the pace, the driver of Mercedes could not keep up. "I pulled a six-second gap, but Hamilton didn't have the tires to push, that was his problem." In the end, the difference between the two men at the finish was just over four seconds.