A vertigo overtaking and a devastating pace: this is how the podium was created in which not even Alonso believed

• Crónica Alonso goes up to the podium of Losail

• 105 races later "I've been waiting so long!"

• Qatar GP Classification and times

• World Cup 2021 The pulse between Verstappen and Hamilton

The applause was mixed with the

when

sat between

and

yesterday

at the doors

of Alpine's

in Losail. It was the moment of the group photo, with the commemorative trophy and the bottle of champagne, along with all the displaced personnel. The CEO of the team, suddenly, hit the nail on the head: "

" he proclaimed to general delirium. Alonso, who came from analyzing each data in the

with his engineers, still wanted to reserve more smiles for the cameras, while

and

, the bosses who complete the tricephaly of Alpine and

, its non-executive director, stayed in the background. Even if they were reluctant to admit it in public, no one at the top could fully explain the astonishing podium of their leader in Qatar.

Just a week ago, shortly before taking the plane in Sao Paulo, Alonso himself had discouraged his own fans. "I understand that there are people who say: 'It is time to make a podium in Qatar', but there will not be, because for 19 races we have only been eighth or ninth." However, after Friday's double free session and Fernando's intimidating speed through qualifying, Budkowski was already rubbing his eyes as he saw his A521's outspoken superiority to Ferrari or McLaren. "I have to admit that we do not fully understand this change in performance, although it may be due to a combination of factors: a mix between the characteristics of the circuit and the great work of our engineers with the tires and with the configuration," he analyzed. And that the Polish, by then,it did not have the most unbalancing factor. The one that Alonso contributed.

Gasly on the outside

The double punishment of

and

, known less than two hours before the start, had elevated Fernando to third place, his best position on the grid since the 2013 Brazilian GP. From that privileged position, it was not I miss waiting for the attack on

, the man who had wiped out his options at the Turkish GP.

"What a stupid guy," the Alpine leader had shouted on the asphalt of Istanbul Park.

Six weeks later, Alonso made his own revenge against one of the sensations of the season, with a spectacular overtaking on the outside of Turn 2. The Frenchman then looked like a scared rookie.

After all, seven years ago, when Alonso was on the podium in Hungary, Gasly was still participating, alongside

, in Formula Renault.

That same 2014,

competing in F3 and

was playing Ginetta Juniors.

In the absence of what happens in Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi, Alonso leads the overtaking classification, with 116, one more than

and

.

Like a hammer

From the start, on the soft tires, Alonso showed better pace than Gasly and opened even more gap in front of Norris. In the first 13 laps, according to the official time table, the A521 fluctuated between 1:30 and 1:31. From lap 14 he began to drop to 1:29 and from 19 to 23, when he went through the garage to change the tires, he never exceeded 1:28. In hard shoes, another 34 laps had to be completed until the checkered flag fell.

After rejoining in front of

did not despair when he was overtaken by the leader of the World Cup.

By then he knew that his fight would be with

and

.

A puncture from the Finn on lap 31 caused him to lose two seconds (1: 31.993), although his cruising speed kept him between 1:27 and 1:28.

And the second stop for Pérez, on lap 40, was already the final pursuit.

Alonso set his best time on lap 46 (1: 26.682), while the Mexican accelerated fully.

In the absence of nine spins, he had a 15-second cushion.

The administration of his advantage, always keeping something in case of extreme urgency, was exemplary.

Against Pirelli's doubts

On Friday, when comparing the telemetries provided by the teams with the data from their simulations,

said he did not find anything out of the expected. However, the miscalculation of the head of Pirelli was more than obvious and would end up leading to disaster for four drivers. The first, already mentioned, was Bottas, the victim of a dramatic blowout when he felt best at the wheel. Later, Norris dropped to ninth on lap 50,

dropped to

seventeenth just one lap later and

had to drop out with just four laps to go.

This scenario seriously compromised the one-stop plan designed by Alpine.

Alonso, like

, had to hurry his game of toughs throughout 34 laps, knowing that the threshold of disaster opened around 30-32.

Only thanks to his skill in avoiding the very delicate curbs of Losail did they allow him to reach the goal safely.

A team effort too

The setback on the grid, when conflicting data triggered a little stir among its engineers, was Alpine's most delicate moment with Alonso. And the fact is that the process of the

stop

was not a problem this time for the Spaniard, who invested 25,991 seconds throughout his journey through the

. A time only eight tenths slower than Verstappen's best (25,175) and seven worse than

(25,235).

As if that wasn't enough,

was going to fulfill his part of the role, holding Pérez during an exciting duel on lap 46. "I made him lose around three seconds. I just wanted to return Fernando the favor that he gave me. he had done in Budapest ", admitted the Frenchman, remembering those laps of the Hungaroring in which his teammate had denied the passage to Hamilton.

The 10 points added by Ocon would raise Alpine's loot to 25, on a Sunday where Alpha Tauri was left to zero.

Now, the fifth place in the Constructors' World Cup happens to hold that advantage in the last two races.

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Know more

• sports

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• Sergio perez

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