Monaco GP: Fernando Alonso explains backing the field up during Sunday's race

Fernando Alonso has explained why he backed the field up during the Monaco Grand Prix as he was saving the tyres on his Alpine.

Following the restart to the race after Mick Schumacher’s crash, we soon had the rather comical sight of Alonso, in P7, leading around the rest of the field at a far from optimum pace.

Indeed, given the lack of overtaking opportunities, over half the grid was in a train behind the Spaniard for about half the remaining laps that were recorded, before he decided in the closing stages to put the hammer down and speed up.

It certainly made for intriguing viewing, especially as the leading pack were closing in to lap them all, and Fernando explained post-race he had to do it in order to preserve the tyres on his car.

“I think we didn’t have the tyres or the tyre life to finish the race when it was 33 laps,” Alonso said after the chequered flag.

“It’s a sprint race, we had two choices: refit the hard tyres from the beginning of the race, or put the medium tyre. We put the medium tyre, but our life estimation was shorter than 33.

“So we didn’t know if we could finish the race, so I managed a lot the tyres for 15 laps, and then I pushed for the remaining 15 when they told me that Esteban [Ocon] had the penalty.”

Ultimately, Alonso got points for P7 and that is what matters, so you can guarantee he’d do the same if he had his time again.