Alonso reckons Alpine one-stop strategy was 'very optimistic'

Fernando Alonso reckoned that Alpine's one-stop strategy in Sunday's Spanish GP, that left him a lowly P17 at the end of the day, was "very optimistic" but still worth the risk.

Alonso spent the bulk of his afternoon on the fringe of the top ten, hoping that his one-stopper would pay dividends at the checkered flag.

But a drop off in the performance of the Spaniard's set of medium tyres in the closing stages of the race forced the Alpine charger to undertake another swap with five laps to go.

"I couldn’t drive!" joked Alonso. "I think we were in a very optimistic strategy with one-stop and I knew that [the drivers behind] were coming.

"I tried to hold five or six cars behind me for a couple of laps but it was not enough.

"But I would rather prefer to risk that strategy and try to take that point than sit there behind and not scoring. We were brave today, maybe too brave. I think there is some work to do."

• Read also: F1i's Driver Ratings for the 2021 Spanish GP

While Alonso's one-stop strategy failed on Sunday, it delivered a P9 finish to teammate Esteban Ocon who out-qualified and out-paced the two-time world champion at the Circuit de Catalunya for the third race in succession.

But the 39-year-old veteran says he's still in the process of getting on top of Alpine's A521.

"There’s still some work to go in terms of different driving style, different way of trying to set up for me in the car. I have some homework for sure," Alonso said.

"I think we felt more competitive here and it’s good. We want more, we will not stop here and hopefully more to come at Monaco."

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