A great race for two-time F1 World Champion, Fernando Alonso, in the Netherlands at the Zandvoort circuit today. The Spaniard, who started in ninth position, was able to immediately overtake the Italian Alfa Romeo driver, Antonio Giovinazzi, and then to take the position on his teammate Esteban Ocon, avoiding contact and possible consequences.

The Spaniard managed to keep a good pace even after the pitstop, staying in seventh position, building his advantage over the group behind him, lap after lap, even closing the gap on Carlos Sainz's Ferrari during the last lap and to gain another position.

"I planned at the start to be on the outside, but Giovinazzi was thinking the same, so I had that door closed, but at one point I tried to also overtake Esteban, it was very close between us." commented the Spaniard, referring to the first two overtakes he made.

"A well-executed race," - he said - “It was a little bit unknown what the tyre degradation could be, so we were updating the team basically every five or six laps. We had to give the strategy according to the feeling we had in the car.

"It was a challenge because even if the car felt okay, you didn't know in ten laps what the balance would be, because we had no reference, no last year's race, no practice long enough runs.

"You are always thinking of the worse, being pessimistic and trying to drive conservative, trying to take care of the tyres, but at one point you have to attack. So it was a challenge for everybody."

Speaking to Sky Sports F1, Alonso admitted that he went beyond his own expectations by managing to finish the Grand Prix in front of a Ferrari:

"Overtaking Carlos was not expected, because the Ferrari, we thought that they were much in front. But P6 was the maximum today," he explained.

Always pushing! @alo_oficial 💪

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Then he commented on his general performance: “On Saturday I'm still missing some performance, there are some two or three laps that I can improve one or two tenths. But on Sunday, I'm basically enjoying it more.

"Let's see Monza, it's going to be another good atmosphere I guess with all the tifosi, so looking forward."

#DutchGP Race Report ⬇️
“The fight will continue in Monza. Congratulations to Max for his win at home in front of an incredible crowd – it’s been an exceptional atmosphere all weekend, one we haven’t seen for a very long time.” - Marcin Budkowski

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— Alpine F1 Team (@AlpineF1Team) September 5, 2021