Fernando Alonso explains ‘confusing’ defensive tactic to secure Austria F1 points finish

Fernando Alonso explained how his driving on the final lap of the Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix was enough to ‘confuse’ a charging Gabriel Bortoleto as he successfully defended seventh place.

The Spaniard secured his third straight points finish of the year at the Red Bull Ring, having started in 10th place.

But in the closing stages, the Aston Martin man found himself under extreme pressure from the Sauber of rookie Bortoleto, who is managed by the veteran’s A14 firm.

After the race, Alonso first explained how Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson contributed to his unexpectedly high finishing position.

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“It was a tough race,” he said. “We didn’t have the pace this weekend, but we still managed a very good race, I think, first thanks to Liam.

“Because I took the DRS on lap 3. On lap 70, I was still in his DRS. I was just doing qualifying laps from Turn 4 to Turn 9,  to the detection [point], and then after the detection in 9, I had the detection in 1, detection in 3, and then every lap was the same sequence.”

Alonso: ‘Lando came at the right moment’ to prevent Bortoleto overtake

As the laps ticked down, Alonso’s mirrors were full of his Brazilian protege’s green Sauber, who had driven superbly all weekend in the Swiss squad’s ever-improving C45.

But the Aston managed to stay ahead, and credited race-winner Lando Norris for some assistance in how he was able to resist Bortoleto.

“And then at the end, Gabriel was a lot faster,” he said. “I thought, honestly, I could not defend, but luckily enough, Lando [Norris] came just at the right moment, blue flags.

“And because Lando overtook us, the next lap was the chequered flag, because we got lapped. So, it was a perfect combination – and a lucky race to finish P7, to be honest…

“I didn’t want to pass Lando, but I could not stay just behind Lando, because then Gabriel would pass me, so I had to try different moves to confuse Gabriel a little bit about what I was doing and at what point.”

READ MORE – Sauber reveals McLaren rejected late request via text message in Austrian GP points battle