When you’ve been around for as long as Fernando Alonso has been, you start carrying a certain reputation. For most parts, the reputation preceding Alonso is of a fearsome and formidable fighter with a lion’s heart. However, his fearsome nature and his ambition also, sometimes, make him difficult to work with. That was the reputation Alonso joined Aston Martin with. However, after donning the Aston Martin colors and finishing in top four in every race, the Spaniard is showcasing a different side of him. This new Alonso also made sure he defended his team’s decision to send him out with dry tires even after the rain started to pour in Monaco.

We have seen glimpses of this never seen before positive side of Alonso from the start of his Aston Martin tenure. Speaking to the media, including Soy Motor,  the Spaniard used the same avatar to defend the team’s decision.

“For me, it was very clear that the track, on that lap, was completely dry, apart from Turn 7 and 8,” Alonso explained. “So how will I put the inters? It was completely dry, 99 per cent of the track. So I stopped for dries. The weather forecast, it was a small shower and the small quantity of rain as well that we had. And we had a lot of margin behind us to put the dry tyres on and, if necessary, the inter tyres. Maybe it was extra safe — but the lap that we stopped, was completely dry.”

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Additionally, Alonso, in his post-race radio conversation, was full of praise and only had positive messages to convey to his team. Our Spanish two-time world champion has changed. Or perhaps he has always been this team player. He just needed the right team. A team he will defend till the end. Or at least he is doing for now, which we can prove with another set of quotes.

Fernando Alonso appreciates the sign of intent from Aston Martin as the starting race strategy paid off

Alonso perhaps raised some eyebrows before the start of the race as he decided to start the race on hard compounds. His chief rival Max Verstappen was on mediums and most would’ve pegged Alonso to go the same route. However, speaking further to the media, Alonso defended his team’s decision once again and appreciated their intent.

“We were brave on the strategy,” the two-time Monaco GP winner reasoned. “It’s not normal that you start on the first row of the grid and you choose the hard tire, trying to do the opposite of the leaders. That shows, the commitment from the team and how aggressive everyone was in Aston Martin to try to get the win. We knew that it was some downside that the strategy; we could end up maybe P5, P6, or something like that out of the podium.”

Alonso also confessed the lack of pace compared to Verstappen’s RB19 was the only shortcoming in his race.

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This helpful and positive side of Alonso is hard to digest, but it is definitely coming as a breath of fresh air.