In the aftermath of a very wet Shanghai 6-Hours WEC race, it has emerged that a tactical mistake cost McLaren F1 star Fernando Alonso and his #8 Toyota Gazoo Racing teammates what appeared to be a sure victory.
In treacherous conditions for most of the race, Alonso impressed in the wet increasing the gap by 20 seconds during his stint, but a pitstop call proved to be wrong as Toyota team chief Rob Leupen explained, "We had car #8 in front, and car #7 needed to pit because it had less fuel," said Leupen. "It didn’t have enough fuel to stay out and then they pitted. They got the benefit in comparison to car #8."
"Looking at this afterwards, this is a mistake. But at that moment we took the decision to keep car #8 in front because if there had been a red flag, it could have been that no Toyota would be in front.
"We didn’t want to benefit one or other car, but at that moment you had to take a decision. We took a decision for the advantage of the team, to keep a Toyota in front."
Thus Sebastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima and Alonso were denied victory which in the end went to car #7 of Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez. Their second win in a row takes them within five points of their championship leading teammates in the #8 car.
Conway conceded, "We lucked in because the lap after we pitted the safety car didn't go through the pits and then they got held at the red light. They [the #8 drivers] were very good all race, all three of them."
"We got the luck today, but that's the way it goes sometimes in endurance racing. There have been races when we've missed out on the win though misfortune."
Alonso took the defeat on the chin, "It was a tough race due to the weather conditions, the amount of water on the track and the safety car periods. Wet weather races are always very stressful, also in terms of visibility."
"I think we had a good, fast car and did the best we could; we were quite competitive today and could fight for the win. In the end it did not work out but we will try it again next time," added the Spaniard who returns for his final Formula 1 race in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.
https://www.grandprix247.com/2018/11/18/wec-shanghai-alonso-second-in-toyota-1-2-in-the-wet/
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