Veteran racer Fernando Alonso finished at P3 in the 2021 Qatar GP to win the Driver of the Day
Fernando Alonso braved the Qatar track to return to the podium for the first time since 2014.
The Spaniard started at P3 after finishing fifth in the qualifying. A 5-place grid penalty for Max Verstappen and a 3-place grid penalty for Valtteri Bottas put Alonso at P3 in the starting grid, behind Lewis Hamilton and Pierre Gasly.
While a majority of the drivers went for a 2 pit stop strategy, the undeterred Alonso went ahead with a 1 pit stop move.
He did see a number of drivers not finish the race, and lose out a ton of places due to the 1 pit stop strategy. Bottas and Nicolas Latifi had their respective tyres punctured and hence weren’t able to finish the race.
Lando Norris had to be content with a ninth-place finish, after a late puncture saw him rushing to the pits.
Despite going for a 1 pit stop strategy, Alonso had to fend off a stern challenge from the fiery Sergio Perez of Red Bull.
Alonso finished nearly 3 seconds ahead of Perez.
It was a big day for the Alpine F1 team with their drivers Alonso and Esteban Ocon taking P3 and P5 respectively.
2014 Hungary GP was the last time Fernando Alonso made it to the podium
The last time Fernando Alonso made it to the podium, was the 2014 Hungarian GP.
The Spaniard, then racing for the Ferrari F1 team finished second behind Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull.
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