Alonso went for victory: 'Drove different lines to Verstappen'

Alonso started the race in fifth place, but drove into podium position after just a few laps. Rain chaos at the start of the Grand Prix caused him to drop back a bit, but before rain fell again, he was third. The showers that followed were so hard that several drivers flew off, including the man in second place, Sergio Perez. The Aston Martin driver was able to pass him, securing his second place after the red flag.

Alonso went for victory

Nevertheless, Alonso would still have liked to go for victory: "I was thinking about trying, so i was not conservative I thought about what to do a lot in the red flag period about what to do, so I thought, 'What are the possibilities?' Obviously, the move into turn 3 was something that was in my head, also into turn 1."

"But obviously I don't want to compromise any big points for the team because second was very important as well." Alonso continued. "I think they have the trust in me as well, in whatever I decide. So yeah, at the restart I tried in turn 14, launching the lap, tried to be flat in the banking with the cold tyres, which is a bit risky. I tried to be side by side at least into turn 1, but I was not that close. So after that, I tried some different lines, inside and outside, the opposite of Max for the first lap, in case one of the lines was very grippy, or much grippier than his. And yeah, it was close, but not enough."