Alpine’s Fernando Alonso is anticipating “action” on the opening lap of the Hungarian Grand Prix, which he hopes will lead to free positions.
The Spaniard is set to start the race from ninth on the grid, one spot behind team-mate Esteban Ocon.
Alonso has built a reputation across his career as being one of the best starters on the grid, as he has shown ability to make up positions on the opening lap of grands prix.
With the way the grid order is set for Sunday’s race, Alonso states that there may be incidents in the opening sequence of corners, which he aims to capitalise on.
“We will try to recover places, I think we can,” Alonso said. “In my case I start on the clean side, it’s one of the circuits where it is more noticeable, than the clean side, so my wish is to finish a little bit higher in the first lap.
“But I think we need to be careful because in front of us I think something could happen again because we have Max [Verstappen] starting on the red tyre, Lewis [Hamilton] on yellow.
“We have Checo [Perez], [Pierre] Gasly, and behind them [Lando] Norris and [Charles] Leclerc, which are one of the best starters, Norris and Leclerc, so [the] first corner is going to be a little bit of action.
“We need to be clever to stay out of any trouble and benefit from whatever happens in front of us. So we want a clean first lap because maybe there are some positions that come for free.”
Last time out at F1’s first Sprint Qualifying race at Silverstone, Alonso made up six positions on the opening lap, progressing from 11th to fifth.
The 40-year-old is targeting his sixth consecutive points finish, as he looks to continue his consistent run midway through the 2021 season.
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