The two-time F1 world champion experienced brake problems that ruined his chances of any podium option.
At a good pace after the sensational display of Lando Norris in the rain and the sensational driving of the Spaniard, the Ligier de Fernando was in the front positions of the grid with every option to podium. The good feelings didn’t last for very long as in the first corner, Fernando was without brakes. A curve in which you come from more than 300 km / h. Alonso explained his experience about the problem: “You are afraid, no doubt. You get to the first corner, it happened twice in the first corner, you step on the brakes and there are no brakes. Fortunately on this track you have a shortcut. At night you can not clearly see the tire wall and where the escape route is. So that was even more terrifying!”, commented the Asturian driver.
It took about 40 minutes to solve the problem which was repeated a few hours after the end of the 24 hours: “You try to take the car to the garage because in a resistance race this can happen and the mechanics will solve the problem“, commented Fernando that despite the scary situation, was very satisfied with the pace of his Ligier: “In quali we were 13th and 15th, but then in the race this changed and we were probably in the fastest three cars on the track when we were running”, said the driver of Mclaren.
In fact, Alonso was going home with the feeling of having lost the chance to get a podium. His teammates of United Autosports were in big part of the race in the third positions until the arrival of problems also for them. Alonso rolled ahead of them before the brake problem: “We could be there, we were even one lap ahead of them at that time, so I think, yes, we missed an opportunity here”, declared the two-time world champion.
Although he had a bad time with the problems of the car, and with a feeling of having lost the opportunity to get a good result, Alonso had a good assessment of the day: “Positive feeling, even with all the problems. I really enjoyed it a lot. I love driving and when you drive eight or nine hours in a race, it’s much better than one. It is a very good feeling driving 24 hours”, Fernando Alonso finished.