How Alpine ruined Fernando Alonso's chance at a possible podium finish in Canada

Fernando Alonso deserved more than his ninth-place finish at the recently concluded Canadian Grand Prix. Having looked strong through the third practice session and qualifying, the Spanish driver had it all to play for as he lined up in second alongside Red Bull's Max Verstappen. It was Alonso's first front-row start since Germany 2012.

At the start of this past Sunday's race, Alonso did well to keep his Alpine in second place, but he soon came under pressure from Ferrari's Carlos Sainz, who passed him for second place. And it's about here that the Spaniard's race started to unravel, and Alpine failed to anticipate immediate outcomes.

On Lap 8, Perez's Red Bull came to a spluttering halt with gearbox issues. He pulled off to the side of the track at Turn 3, bringing out the virtual safety car (VSC). And it is here that Alpine dropped the ball in a series of events that plunged the two-time Formula 1 champion down the order.

What's Fernando thinking? ??#CanadianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/daMZl7vrGT

Dropping positions

In the 2019 race, Nico Hulkenberg completed 65 of the race's 70 laps on a set of the Hard tyre. And though this year's cars differ from then, it still indicates how durable the Hard tyre is when managed correctly. So when Perez pulled to the side of the track, Alpine should have called in Alonso - as they did with teammate Esteban Ocon - and fit a new set of the Hard tyre to his car and attempt to complete the race on it.

He could have attempted finishing the remaining 62 laps on one set of tyres.

READ: WRAP | 2022 Canadian Grand Prix - Verstappen takes first win in Montréal

Though the total pit stop time remains the same, a driver loses about 9.5 seconds under VSC conditions versus the 18sec under normal conditions.