Fernando Alonso reflects on F1 Qatar GP points as he dwells on a long-standing problem plus says tiredness the reason for missing Abu Dhabi test.
Having had a terrible run off-late, Aston Martin found some joy in F1 Qatar GP after Alonso finished seventh to score six points. Although, it won’t change its position in the standings, but they gain valuable data to understand what is working on the car and what’s not.
They haven’t made huge changes but some of the subtle ones have helped him in the last couple of races. Granted Alonso was aided by some retirements and safety cars, but he feels he was there to take it which shows that they were on the thereabouts of the Top 10.
“A very good Sunday for us – a lot of points – six points for the team, P7, it is better than we anticipated,” said Alonso to media. “Obviously we capitalised on some of the action in front of us, some DNFs, some penalties. So we were ready there to take the opportunity and happy. It wasn’t expected. But yesterday, the car felt good in qualifying, it was a good surprise.
“And in the race, we were relatively fast, together with Alpine and Haas. As I said a little bit lucky at the end, with the safety car, penalty for Norris, and DNF of Checo. You have to be there. Sometimes when we are P14, P15, even if there is something happening in front of you, you don’t take the opportunities. So we were in the right place at the right time.
“Since Singapore, we were not scoring any points. So today we had this opportunity, and we took it. So yeah, happy for the team. Now one race left, it will be nice to finish on a positive note in Abu Dhabi,” summed up Alonso, who explained his radio message about losing out on the straights. He revealed that the car likely doesn’t understand when the race has gone green again.
It is a recurring problem for them. “We had some issues,” said Alonso. “It’s not the first race that we are lacking top speed in the first half of the race or after the safety car. I think the car is confused, still thinking that we are behind the safety car. So we don’t deploy the energy properly out of the last corner when there’s a green flag.
“And that obviously is very costly if you don’t deploy the energy when you have all the cars around you. And yeah, we lost, I think, two or three places at the first restart, and that was very worrying for the final outcome of the race. But yeah, we compensated at the end with some safety cars and better luck. So we still investigate it. I think we know what the issue is. We just need to find the solution.”
Before moving on to his teammate’s race, Alonso also clarified why he was missing the Abu Dhabi test on Tuesday. During the Qatar GP weekend, Aston Martin announced Felipe Drugovich for FP1 in place of Lance Stroll for this weekend’s Abu Dhabi GP. The Brazilian was also confirmed to drive in the post-season test alongside Jak Crawford, who will be on the Young Drivers’ duty.
“I am tired,” stated Alonso. “It’s not secret that I’ve been struggling physically for four races. It seems that I’m now out of the darkness. I feel good today. I felt good in Las Vegas that I wanted to race immediately after Vegas. But I think I need to stop, and take care of myself a little bit as well.”
Stroll, meanwhile, was forced to retire after damage from his Lap 1 incident against Alexander Albon. He faced understeer and couldn’t control his car. “We went to Turn 2, I had big front lock-up and just completely went straight off,” he said. “It cost us a lot of time and then in Turn 5, I just understeered into Alex, I wasn’t trying to race him or fight him.
“I was trying to hold my line but the car kept understeering, and we made contact. It happens. It was fair penalty. I wasn’t trying to race hard, just that the car kept sliding and made contact. It was undrivable, pretty much when the lights went out.”
Here’s Fernando Alonso making a cheeky move: https://www.formula1.com/en/video/2024-qatar-grand-prix-magnussen-and-alonso-race-in-the-pit-lane.1817276563160139566
Here’s Lance Stroll in Lap 1 crash: https://www.formula1.com/en/video/2024-qatar-grand-prix-verstappen-and-norris-jump-russell-on-the-race-start-as-two-cars-crash-out.1817255595215847572
Here’s FIA on their decisions
Here’s how F1 Qatar GP panned out
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