Fernando Alonso continues to teach young people how to do the starts: this was his start at the French GP

Fernando Alonso already demonstrated in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix that at almost 40 years of age he has not forgotten one of his great virtues: going out. Thanks to the spectacular highlight in Baku he finished in an exceptional 6th position.

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Two weeks later, at Paul Ricard, he did it again. This time it was in the first (and only) start that the French Grand Prix. He came out 9th, after an improvement classification. To his right was Lando norris and ahead, Charles Leclerc. A Mclaren and a Ferrari that, by pure performance, are ahead of the Alpine in the current ‘status quo’ of the grid. However, once again, he made it clear that in the first few meters he is one of the best drivers on the grid.

This was the departure of Alonso

As soon as he left, Alonso had already gotten rid of Norris and headed for Leclerc. The Monegasque, aware of his intentions, went to the left (in turn affected by Pierre Gasly, which also did not make a very good start) and forced the Spaniard to brake sharply. That didn’t stop the Alpine from taking inside the first curve and then, by pure traction (one of the great virtues of the A521), it will go to the Ferrari on the outside of the next curve to the right.

Both from above and ‘onboard’ it is a spectacular action:

In the post-race press conference, Alonso claimed that the starts are still the house brand and recalled that in the “statistics for the whole year we are the second or third best (car) in the starts.” “Today was another good start, also in the first and second corners being aggressive,” he reiterated.

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In this sense, he joked with his experience. “It has been my strong point for 20 years. Why shouldn’t it continue to be so now?”He smiled at the media afterward. “The start is that moment in the race where you have to improvise a bit and you need to be creative. You don’t count the performance of the tires or the car: it’s just you and your instinct. I have fun with these kinds of laps.” Alonso explained.

At the end of the race, Lando Norris finished in front, 5th, but not a Charles Leclerc who ended up weighed down, as Carlos Sainz, for the serious degradation problems that Ferrari suffers in the race. In any case, the two ‘NextGen’ pilots once again received a lesson from a true master of the starts.