Exactly. He HAD to be in a rush as he was really running out of laps. Were it not for Raikkonen he'd probably have been able to put on the move first time and by the looks of it, catch and pass both Vettel and Ocon for the win. When he didn't, then it gave Alonso the warning that Hamilton was there.Just_a_fan wrote: ↑03 Aug 2021, 10:58He had to use the tyres when they had their maximum performance. Hanging back just takes life out of the tyres.
He attacked quickly because he didn't expect to have Alonso be such a road block - excellent work from Alonso, by the way - and would have wanted to have as many laps as possible attacking the front three. His approach was definitely the correct one it's just that Fernando had other ideas.
No doubt Alonso put in extra effort defending Hamilton there, but why shouldn't he? There's the pride thing, there's wanting to show the world he's still got it, there's protecting his team mate AND there's protecting the integrity of the WCC. He couldn't just let Hamilton past easy. I liked that he said to Verstappen he did his best after the race. You would expect nothing less.