Fernando Alonso continues to progress hand in hand with Alpine and will play two races in a row, this weekend and the next, at the Red Bull Ring to finalize his set-up. Although experts consider that the Asturian has already returned, the two-time champion says he can still improve. This was demonstrated by Alonso in the Free Practice of the Styrian GP where he was sixth in the first session and fifth in the second. Carlos Sainz , meanwhile, was eleventh in both FP1 and FP2, indicating that Ferrari will suffer in Austria to finish in the points.
And the thing is that Leclerc has been tenth in FP1 and thirteenth in FP2. It should be noted that the Monegasque rider comes from being sixteenth in France, while Carlos Sainz was eleventh. Both reported problems with their tires that left them out of the points zone. “ It is clear that there is something wrong with the tires . You don’t have to be a genius. It is something that I noticed from the first day I joined the team, there is something that does not work in the race and that is what we have to work on and focus on now, understand what we are doing wrong in the race because we have to be doing something very wrong to go so slow ”, said Carlos Sainz after the French Grand Prix.
Also at the press conference prior to the Styrian Grand Prix, the man from Madrid spoke about it: “ It has only been three days and logically the problem is there , but it is interesting to see how a very large company like this one gets to work thoroughly to analyze and try to alleviate the problem. I have been involved these three days in various meetings and discussions in Maranello and a medium and long-term investigation has been started to fix it ”. ” It is not something that is fixed in three days , so we are exposed to it being repeated and we work hard to mitigate it,” added Carlos Sainz.
Alonso had his chrono canceled when he got second
It contrasts with the bad moment of Ferrari , the sweet Alpine lives. If Fernando Alonso was fifth in Free Practice 2, Esteban Ocon was third, which makes the French team face the Styrian Grand Prix with optimism. Alonso’s teammate also shone in Free Practice 1, a session that finished seventh just behind the Oviedo. However, it should be noted that Fernando Alonso had the time taken from his best two laps with each compound in FP2. With the hard one, the two-time champion was fourth while with the soft one he came second. However, his times were not valid for jumping the track limits.
In both FP1 and FP2, Formula 1 World Championship leader Max Verstappen set the fastest time. In the first session he was followed by Pierre Gasly , while Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas were third and fourth respectively. The other AlphaTauri, Yuki Tsunoda’s , finished fifth ahead of the two Alpine . Lance Stroll was eighth, Antonio Giovinazzi ninth and after him were Leclerc and Carlos Sainz .
In Free Practice 2, Daniel Ricciardo finished second after Verstappen, while Hamilton was fourth behind Ocon and ahead of Alonso. After the Asturian were Lando Norris, Stroll, Sergio Pérez and Giovinazzi. All of them ahead of Carlos Sainz, who in turn finished ahead of Bottas and Leclerc this session.
Free Results 1 of the Styrian GP
How FP1 finished 👀#StyrianGP 🇦🇹 #F1 pic.twitter.com/I4J1VkI4Sk
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 25, 2021
Free Results 2 of the Styrian GP
Max Verstappen lands P1 for the second time on Friday
Who impressed you most in FP2? 🤔#StyrianGP 🇦🇹 #F1 pic.twitter.com/zL5OsUEE9X
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 25, 2021
