During the race, Fernando Alonso helped his teammate Lance Stroll by creating a gap that Stroll could use to change his tires without losing his position.
Alonso thought this effort was to secure the last point. But when Stroll got a flat tire and Alonso had to defend his position, he realized he wouldn’t get any points.
“I got confused because we worked hard for that last point,” Alonso said. “I spent 50 laps thinking I was in 10th place. When I crossed the finish line and found out I was in 11th place, it was disappointing.”
Alonso wasn’t sure why this confusion happened. “When the red flag came out, Stroll was in 10th place, I was in 12th. Then they changed the order, so we should have been in 13th and 14th, but Stroll was ahead of Daniel Ricciardo, which wasn’t supposed to happen,” Alonso explained.
He thought the race could have been more interesting if they hadn’t changed tires during the red flag. “Changing tires during a red flag takes away the excitement of pit stops, which are usually a big part of a Monaco race,” Alonso said. “Maybe we should consider not changing tires during red flags or making sure everyone uses the same tires to make the race fair.”
Alonso believed their strategy of using medium tires for the entire race, after starting with hard tires, was risky but necessary to try to get some points. “It was a risky strategy, but it was the only way to try to get some points,” he said.
