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Fernando Alonso Slams Unfair Criticism of His Alpine Form After Impressive Baku F1 Outing

The Azerbaijan Grand Prix seemed to be the turning point for Fernando Alonso this season. Although the Alpine driver got off to a slow start in the first five races, he finished an impressive P6 in the “Land of Fire.”

After his solid performance in Baku, Alonso responded to his critics since his return to Formula One this season. In addition, he mentioned the difference between his performances in Monaco and Baku.

Fernando Alonso believes there is more to come after solid P6 in Baku

Although Alonso finished the race P6, it was anything but a lucky day for the Spaniard. He was quick all weekend, qualifying an impressive P9 on Saturday.

While he dropped to 10th, a red flag after Max Verstappen‘s crash brought a standing start to restart the race. The two-time world champion made no mistakes in the last two laps, gaining four places from P10 to finish P6 on Sunday.

Fernando Alonso at the presser in Baku
Formula One F1 – Formula One – Azerbaijan Grand Prix – Baku City Circuit, Baku, Azerbaijan – June 3, 2021 Alpine’s Fernando Alonso during the press conference Pool via REUTERS/Francois Nel

Although he struggled to get going this season, Alonso believes the criticism towards him was unfair. In addition, he believes his best is yet to come despite a strong performance in Baku.

Alonso said, “I think it was not fair, because I think there is a big difference between what others suffered and what I was suffering. I knew it was only a matter of time. This time it went well, but I think there is more to come.” (Quotes translated from Google)

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Alonso: We work hard between races

Alonso endured a difficult weekend in the Monaco Grand Prix, where he finished P13. The Spaniard believes the work done with the team in between the two races helped him to his best result this season.

Fernando Alonso in action at the Azerbaijan GP
Formula One F1 – Azerbaijan Grand Prix – Baku City Circuit, Baku, Azerbaijan – June 5, 2021 Alpine’s Fernando Alonso in action during qualifying REUTERS/Anton Vaganov

“I think we worked on the car between Monaco and here to understand our problems and analyze how in Monaco we failed to get the best performance from the tires,” said Alonso.

“We worked a lot with the engineers, I had a lot of meetings between Monaco and Baku, online meetings when we were at home or when we were working on the simulator. So yeah, you know, in the week between races we work hard.”

Alonso’s P6 finish couldn’t come at a better time. With the next race in Le Castellet being Alpine’s home race, the team will look to the Spaniard and his teammate, Esteban Ocon for a strong points finish.

Can the Spaniard continue his good run of form in the French Grand Prix?

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