Fernando Alonso says it is “sad” for the FIA that it took until after the race to hand him a penalty that demoted him from the podium in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, and shows the system needs addressing. Aston Martin had to perform a five-second …
Fernando Alonso says it is “sad” for the FIA that it took until after the race to hand him a penalty that demoted him from the podium in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, and shows the system needs addressing.
Aston Martin had to perform a five-second time penalty when Alonso made his one and only pit stop after the Spaniard was deemed to be out of position on the grid, and did so under safety car conditions. However, like Alpine with Esteban Ocon’s car in Bahrain, the team was deemed to have started work on the car before the full five seconds were up, this time but no investigation was communicated during the race and it was only after the podium presentation had started that a 10-second time penalty was announced.
“Less than standard — today is not good for the fans,” Alonso said. “When you have 35 laps to apply the penalty and inform about the penalty and you wait after the podium there is something wrong in the system. It’s the way it is — I feel sorry for the fans, but I enjoyed the podium! I took the trophy, I have the pictures, I celebrate with the champagne and now 15 or 12 points doesn’t change much for me; but it is a little bit sad for the FIA, yes.”
George Russell was promoted to third place as a result and was informed of his result while he was doing interviews and far from the podium, something Alonso says also isn’t correct.
“No, it’s not fair for George as I guess the Mercedes sponsors will love to be on the podium. For us it’s good — we have Aramco, we have the picture, it’s not fair for George as if he was third in the race he should enjoy the podium and not me. I feel sorry for George, for Mercedes sponsors, for George’s fans.”
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Alonso also believes he would have been able to pull the required distance clear of Russell to finish third in the race — for what would have been his 100th podium — having responded in the closing stages to a call to try and open a five-second gap to be safe.
“I need to rewatch the race but apparently I was too much on the left so (the original penalty) was my mistake — I need to pay more attention to that. It’s also strange in two races that two cars — Esteban (Ocon) and myself — had similar things so maybe this year’s cars, the halo, whatever, is interrupting the vision of how we position the car.
“But anyway, that was my mistake. The thing is, they told me you have a five-second penalty so I pushed harder and opened a gap of seven seconds and I paid the penalty. In the second stint there was no investigation, no nothing, so if someone tells me I need 10 seconds I would open 11 seconds.”
Sergio Perez beat teammate Max Verstappen to victory at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in another dominant one-two result for Red Bull Racing. Pole-getter Perez’s race was almost perfect but for his tardy launch off the line that handed an early lead …
Sergio Perez beat teammate Max Verstappen to victory at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in another dominant one-two result for Red Bull Racing.
Pole-getter Perez’s race was almost perfect but for his tardy launch off the line that handed an early lead to second-place starter Fernando Alonso — who didn’t need to be asked twice to take the straighter line through the first chicane and take first place.
But it became quickly obvious that the Aston Martin was no match for the Red Bull Racing car. Perez bided his time until lap four, when he blasted back into the lead with the help of a super-effective DRS, and never looked back, with his way being eased by a lap-17 safety car that gifted him an easy pit stop.
Perez’s only threat came from teammate Verstappen, who started 15th on the grid after a failed driveshaft in qualifying. The Dutchman took just eight laps to rise into the top 10 and was still within Perez’s pit stop window when the safety car was deployed.
He shook out from the caution pit stops in fourth but was rapidly up to third ahead of George Russell, and within five laps of the restart Verstappen was into second place ahead of Alonso to begin his pursuit of the lead.
Verstappen was given a lap time target of 1m33s, but regularly appeared to ignore the instruction, diving easily into the 1m32s to slice the gap to his teammate. Even worries for his driveshaft, about which he radioed his team that he could feel vibrations at high speed, weren’t enough to deter him from his goal.
Perez was eventually told that Verstappen was ignoring instruction to manage his pace and reluctantly sped up, asking rhetorically whether both cars should be risking problems by pushing so hard, but he had enough in hand to break Verstappen’s challenge to win by 5.3s.
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“It turned out to be tougher than I expected,” he said. “The team did a fantastic job.
“We will keep pushing hard. The important thing I think is we were the fastest car out there today, so I’m very pleased with that.”
Verstappen consoled himself with a bonus point for fastest lap, set on the final tour of the race against instruction from his pit wall, to retain the title lead over Perez by a single point.
“It wasn’t very easy to get through the field,” he said. “Once I cleared them one by one we got into a good rhythm, and of course I’m very happy to be here on the podium.”
Alonso’s glorious start didn’t last long, but the Aston Martin driver again comfortably outdistanced all but the Red Bulls…at least on the track. Zak Mauger/Motorsport Images
Alonso finished third at the flag for his 100th podium but was stripped of the place in the aftermath for incorrectly serving a 5s penalty during his sole pit stop.
Alonso had been penalized for starting too far left in his grid box, but his rear jack was engaged before the five seconds had expired, which is against the rules. The stewards handed him a post-race 10s penalty, demoting him to fourth behind Mercedes driver George Russell.
Russell had been told to push late in the race to capitalize on the possible penalty, finishing 5.1s behind the Spaniard. Teammate Lewis Hamilton, however, couldn’t bridge the gap. He finished fifth and 10.3s behind Alonso, leaving him in his position at the flag.
Although the penalty made that podium appearance illusory, Alonso remained delighted by his Aston Martin car’s level of performance.
“What a start of a season,” he said. “Probably unthinkable one month ago when we launched the car, but these guys made a fantastic car.
“I pushed all the way through like qualifying laps. Red Bull is maybe a little bit out of reach, but the rest were behind, so I’m happy with that.”
Alonso came under late scrutiny from the stewards room for incorrectly serving a five-second penalty at his sole stop, earned for starting too far left in his grid box. His rear jack appeared to be engaged at the back of the car before the five seconds had been served, which would be a breach of the rules. The resulting 10-second penalty — the same handed Esteban Ocon for a similar offense last time out in Bahrain — promoted Mercedes’ Russell into third, though teammate Lewis Hamilton remained fifth after a straightforward race for the seven-time champion.
Both Mercedes cars had more than enough pace in hand to keep Ferrari covered. Neither Carlos Sainz nor Charles Leclerc was competitive on the hard tire, with Leclerc’s recovery from 12th with an engine penalty all thanks to his opening stint on softs.
Alpine teammates Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly battled among themselves for eighth and ninth, with Kevin Magnussen beating Yuki Tsunoda to the final point of the race in 10th despite a very early first pit stop on lap eight.
P
#
DRIVER
CAR
LAPS
TIME
PTS
1
11
SergioPerez
RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT
50
1:21:14.894
0
2
1
MaxVerstappen
RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT
50
+5.355s
0
3
14
FernandoAlonso
ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES
50
+20.728s
0
4
63
GeorgeRussell
MERCEDES
50
+25.866s
0
5
44
LewisHamilton
MERCEDES
50
+31.065s
0
6
55
CarlosSainz
FERRARI
50
+35.876s
0
7
16
CharlesLeclerc
FERRARI
50
+43.162s
0
8
31
EstebanOcon
ALPINE RENAULT
50
+52.832s
0
9
10
PierreGasly
ALPINE RENAULT
50
+54.747s
0
10
20
KevinMagnussen
HAAS FERRARI
50
+64.826s
0
11
22
YukiTsunoda
ALPHATAURI HONDA RBPT
50
+67.494s
0
12
27
NicoHulkenberg
HAAS FERRARI
50
+70.588s
0
13
24
ZhouGuanyu
ALFA ROMEO FERRARI
50
+76.060s
0
14
21
NyckDe Vries
ALPHATAURI HONDA RBPT
50
+77.478s
0
15
81
OscarPiastri
MCLAREN MERCEDES
50
+85.021s
0
16
2
LoganSargeant
WILLIAMS MERCEDES
50
+86.293s
0
17
4
LandoNorris
MCLAREN MERCEDES
50
+86.445s
0
18
77
ValtteriBottas
ALFA ROMEO FERRARI
49
+1 lap
0
NC
23
AlexanderAlbon
WILLIAMS MERCEDES
27
DNF
0
NC
18
LanceStroll
ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES
16
DNF
0
* Provisional results. Note – Verstappen scored an additional point for setting the fastest lap of the race.
Fernando Alonso says Aston Martin needs to focus on keeping the likes of Mercedes and Ferrari at bay rather than dreaming of victory from the front row at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Max Verstappen’s reliability issue opened the door for a more …
Fernando Alonso says Aston Martin needs to focus on keeping the likes of Mercedes and Ferrari at bay rather than dreaming of victory from the front row at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen’s reliability issue opened the door for a more competitive qualifying session than was expected, with the early championship leader starting 15th. Sergio Perez took pole position from Charles Leclerc, but a grid penalty for the Ferrari driver means Alonso will start second as Aston Martin backed up its performance from Bahrain, but the Spaniard believes a win is unlikely.
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“I think we are not in that position yet,” Alonso said. “I think on pure pace, Red Bull is in another league. And I think we have to concentrate more on the teams behind. So Ferrari will be very strong. Mercedes, they are strong, and also Alpine, they are fast here.
“So I think our race is just behind us. But we saw today, Max probably was in his league today in qualifying and he could not complete the qualifying with a mechanical issue apparently, so we will try to take the opportunity for sure.”
Alonso has made a number of impressive starts throughout his career and feels that is his only hope to get ahead of Perez, given the pace Red Bull has shown all weekend.
“I don’t want to sound pessimistic but if we see the pace the whole weekend in free practice, we see the Bahrain race, we have to be honest with ourselves and know that Red Bull is a little bit ahead of everyone. So that’s not, let’s say, the target tomorrow, to fight for the win with Checo.
“But as I said before, Formula 1 is not exact mathematics, you know — anything can happen and today no one of us will put Verstappen P15, but these things happen sometimes. So, for us, the most important thing is to score points. We are starting both cars in the top five. We try to finish both cars in the top five and keep accumulating points for the Constructors’ Championship. That’s the main goal for Aston Martin this year.”
Alonso is also wary of a Verstappen fightback on Sunday, but says the progress Aston Martin has made over the winter to be speaking in such terms should not be overlooked.
“I think Max will come eventually in the race, you know. They have this advantage. I don’t know which race it was last year that he started last, so he changed the power unit and still finished P2 or even won the race. So, I think tomorrow, there is no doubt that he will be in the podium, probably, minimum. So as I said, this is not our goal.
“When we launched the car on the 13th of February, I remember very well a conversation with (team principal) Mike Krack, with Lance (Stroll), with the senior management of the team, setting the goals for this year, and the goals were not fighting Red Bull for the win tomorrow. So let’s keep it simple. Let’s keep the feet on the ground, and don’t make any mistakes.
“Even if we are competitive we cannot leave these kinds of weekends that they are so good for us with no points, that would be our biggest mistake. So whatever is available tomorrow, I’m sure we will take.”
Max Verstappen remained fastest in FP2 at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, but Fernando Alonso closed the gap while Alpine also impressed under the lights. Fresh from setting the pace comfortably in FP1, Verstappen saw his advantage reduced by Alonso …
Max Verstappen remained fastest in FP2 at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, but Fernando Alonso closed the gap while Alpine also impressed under the lights.
Fresh from setting the pace comfortably in FP1, Verstappen saw his advantage reduced by Alonso in the only representative practice session of the weekend as FP2 took place at the same time as qualifying and the race. Verstappen led the way with a 1m29.603s, beating Alonso’s soft-tire time by 0.208s, with Sergio Perez less than 0.1s further back in third place.
When it came to the long runs that followed, Red Bull didn’t enjoy a massive advantage either with Perez the quickest car — on medium tires — ahead of Verstappen who was complaining of gear shift issues running on the softs, and Alonso comparable to the championship leader.
Fourth overall was Esteban Ocon as both Alpine drivers showed impressive pace on both low and high fuel, with Ocon and Pierre Gasly separated by George Russell but all three within 0.5s of Verstappen’s best lap. That was the same margin the Red Bull driver had enjoyed over the entire field in the heat of FP1.
Lance Stroll and Nico Hulkenberg were seventh and eighth respectively, the Haas driver with an eye-catching lap that was under 0.6s away from the latest time overall. Hulkenberg’s time also meant there were five different teams ahead of Ferrari, with Charles Leclerc in ninth and Carlos Sainz 10th.
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Leclerc was three quarters of a second off Verstappen on low fuel but Ferrari was closer on the long run pace, although Leclerc twice asked if everything was fine with his power unit during his race simulation. The Monegasque already has a power unit penalty this weekend, and was told that there was nothing amiss on the data, responding that he thought it was “a big surge” that had caught his attention.
Lewis Hamilton was only 11th fastest and the final car within a second of Verstappen, struggling in the first sector in particular where he lost 0.6s to the Dutchman and 0.4s to teammate Russell on his best lap. That was despite Russell saying Mercedes needed to make some changes after his low-fuel runs.
A sign of how tricky the circuit is was the lowly position of the three rookie drivers, with Nyck de Vries, Logan Sargeant and Oscar Piastri only kept off the bottom of the timing screens by Valtteri Bottas at the end of what appeared to be a challenging day for Alfa Romeo. Even so, all 10 teams were within 1.2s of each other, showing how relative performance currently is across the field.
A number of drivers found themselves caught out by traffic at certain stages of the session, with sight lines still challenging around the Jeddah Corniche Circuit despite changes to improve visibility at certain corners. There was a near-miss after the checkered flag, too, when Sainz overtook Perez through the first sector but the Red Bull driver hadn’t seen the Ferrari coming and nearly turned into the side of Sainz’s car.
Max Verstappen believes victories for Fernando Alonso this season “are definitely on the table” given where Aston Martin has started the year. Alonso finished third to the two Red Bulls in Bahrain and heads to this weekend’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix …
Max Verstappen believes victories for Fernando Alonso this season “are definitely on the table” given where Aston Martin has started the year.
Alonso finished third to the two Red Bulls in Bahrain and heads to this weekend’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix with a car that appears capable of fighting to be best of the rest ahead of Ferrari and Mercedes. With the strong starting point offering the potential for further development and Alonso himself saying “there is more to come from our side”, Verstappen believes the Spaniard is likely to add to his tally of 32 victories this season.
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“I hope so for Fernando as well because he has had a few years where there was not really a possibility to fight at the front, so I’m happy to see him (on the podium) already in race one,” Verstappen said. “I think at Aston Martin they really have the spirit and drive, they want to win and they’ve hired a lot of good people. So I guess it can only get better for them.
“For this year, difficult to say if they’re going to challenge for the championship, but race wins are definitely on the table. I’ve been in the same position where some races I’m finishing 20 to 40 seconds behind the winners and you still win two or three races a year because sometimes there are some tracks which really suit your car and everything just comes together and you can win a race with maybe sometimes a bit of help or luck.
“But for sure they have a really strong package. And now of course it’s all about developing it further.”
Although Aston Martin has made a major step forward after revising its car concept and now is in the mix with the previous top three, Verstappen doesn’t believe it’s a sign of the 2022 technical regulations helping to level the playing field and provide more opportunities to other teams.
“I think it doesn’t matter if it was the previous generation or this one. I think if you have the right people in charge, and they really want to win and they hire the right people, anything is possible.”
Desde las últimas veinte vueltas aún pensaba en el accidente, solo quería acabar la carrera hoy.
El Gran Premio de Austin estuvo marcado por un accidente que nos dejó los pelos de punta. En la recta del circuito, Fernando Alonso intentó rebasar a Lance Stroll de Aston Martin, quien le cerró el paso y lo mandó a volar, literalmente.
El neumático de Alonso tocó al de Stroll, lo que lo mandó a volar por el aire en lo que pudo convertirse en un terrible accidente. Para fortuna de Alonso, el monoplaza mantuvo la trayectoria sin girar en el aire, lo que permitió que regresara al suelo e incluso siguiera manejando hasta los pits.
Aunque el accidente no pasó a mayores, el joven piloto compartió que tuvo miedo mientras su auto se elevó por el aire.
“Cuando estaba en el aire tenía un poco de miedo, porque cuando te vas hacia las vallas exteriores, pasa en la IndyCar muchas veces, haces 360 y puede ser peligroso”, detallo el español.
“Estoy contento de ya estar hablando con ustedes porque podría estar en el medical center. Desde las últimas veinte vueltas aún pensaba en el accidente, solo quería acabar la carrera hoy”, agregó.
Sabemos que en la Fórmula 1 el menor error puede terminar en catástrofe, por lo que, como Alonso, estamos aliviados de que no haya pasado a mayores el incidente.
El nuevo récord que Alonso le batió a Schumacher fue el de mayor tiempo transcurrido entre la primera vez que lideró un premio y el último
La leyenda de la Fórmula 1 Fernando Alonso sigue rompiendo récords personales en la máxima categoría del automovilismo a nombres tan emblemáticos como Michael Schumacher.
El veterano piloto asturiano de 41 años de edad, dejará el volante al finalizar la temporada 2022 cumpliendo así 21 años desde su debut en la Fórmula 1 en 2001 y muchas marcas que serán difíciles de igualar.
El nuevo récord que Fernando Alonso le batió a Michael Schumacher fue el de mayor tiempo transcurrido entre la primera vez que lideró un Gran Premio de Fórmula 1 y el del pasado domingo en Japón, cuando el español se puso por instantes al frente de la carrera tras una ventana de cambio de neumáticos.
La primera vez que Alonso fue líder en un Gran Premio fue en el 2003 en Malasia y desde aquél entonces a el domingo pasado transcurrieron 19 años, seis meses y 16 días, toda una vida literalmente.
Fernando Alonso en el Gran Premio de Estados Unidos en 2005 / USA TODAY Sports
Es decir Yuki Tsunoda, el japonés de Alpha Tauri que es el piloto más joven de la temporada tenía apenas 3 años de edad cuando Fernando Alonso ya lideraba un Gran Prix en la Fórmula 1.
Alonso superó a Schumacher en el registro pues el alemán lo hizo en 19 años, un mes y nueve días desde Bélgica 1992 hasta Japón en 2011. Le sigue Kimi Räikkönen, el finlandés que apenas se retiró el año pasado mantenía el registro de 16 años y tres meses.
En cuarto sitio y aún en activo está Lewis Hamilton quien posee el registro de liderar un Gran Prix con una ventana de 15 años, cinco meses y 17 días, desde el GP de Australia en 2007 hasta el GP de Países Bajos en el 2022. Para superar a Alonso, el británico tendrá que permanecer al menos cuatro temporadas más en la Fórmula 1.
Finalmente otro piloto en activo como Sebastian Vettel se encuentra en el Top 8 con un registro de 13 años, ocho meses y siete días, desde Japón en 2007 hasta Azerbaiyán en 2021, sin embargo no podrá incrementar más su cuota pues se retirará igual que Alonso al finalizar la presente campaña.
Para sellar la tregua, Fernando Alonso subió una foto con Lewis Hamilton y el regalo que el británico le tenía preparado
Fernando Alonso y Lewis Hamilton terminaron la polémica que surgió entre ambos luego de un choque en el GP de Bélgica donde el español arremetió fuerte contra el británico en la radio de su equipo.
En la semana Hamilton envió un misterioso mensaje a través de sus redes sociales donde agradecía a los aficionados el apoyo pero en la última foto había una gorra firmada por el heptacampeón del mundo con la leyenda “Para Fernando”.
Este jueves la atención de los medios de comunicación se centró en ambos pilotos en el primer día de actividades en el Circuito de Zandvoort para el GP de Países Bajos del fin de semana.
Foto ESPECIAL
Alonso es un señor de las pistas y se disculpó por las declaraciones por radio en el calor del momento, asegurando que nada de lo que dijo es verdad y respeta mucho a Hamilton como un gran campeón de nuestros tiempos, peor aprovechó para meter una nueva polémica asegurando que no es lo mismo hablar de un piloto británico pues tiene más implicaciones que cuando hablas de Checo, otro latino, Carlos (Sainz) o él mismo.
“No, no creo que Lewis sólo sepa correr saliendo primero, hay hechos que lo demuestran a la perfección. Son cosas que dices en el calor del momento. Nada de lo que dije era verdad. Tengo un gran respeto por él”, dijo Alonso. “Ha sido muy gordo desde fuera. Sé que Lewis es un campeón, una leyenda de nuestro tiempo. Siento repetir esto, pero cuando dices algo contra un piloto británico hay mucha implicación de los medios después. Se pueden decir muchas cosas sobre Checo, Carlos o yo, sobre un piloto latino, y todo es más divertido. Pero cuando lo dices sobre un británico es más serio”. aseguró Fernando Alonso.
Para sellar la tregua, Fernando Alonso subió una foto con Lewis Hamilton y el regalo que el británico le tenía preparado a manera de disculpas por el incidente de Spa.
No cabe duda que desde que compartieron equipo en McLaren, estos dos pilotos se tienen pique pues en aquel tiempo la escudería favoreció notoriamente al piloto de casa, el de la misma nacionalidad que la escudería que representaba.
Todo ocurrió en la primera vuelta del GP de Bélgica cuando ambos ex campeones del mundo se accidentaron y se culparon uno al otro
La polémica volvió a aparecer con Lewis Hamilton que esta vez chocó su Mercedes contra el Alpine de Fernando Alonso en el Circuito de Spa-Francorchamps lo que ocasionó que el británico saliera de la carrera y el español lo llamara “idiota” que “solo sabe correr cuando sale primero”.
La respuesta de Hamilton al incidente y las declaraciones de Alonso fueron de manera muy política con una publicación en Instagram que indirectamente iba dirigida al español pues en la última de las cinco fotos aparece una gorra de Mercedes firmada con una pegatina “Para Fernando”.
Foto ESPECIAL
¿Qué pasó entre Hamilton y Alonso?
Todo ocurrió en la primera vuelta del GP de Bélgica cuando ambos ex campeones del mundo partieron en una muy buena posición en la segunda fila de la parrilla y lograron adelantar a Checo Pérez en la largada.
Al enfilarse a la curva Les Combes, el Mercedes de Hamilton que venía un poco más rápido intentó irse por la parte exterior y el Alpine de Fernando Alonso por el interior lo que ocasionó un fuerte accidente y ambos monoplazas perdieron las posiciones.
Alonso logró recuperarse y por radio mencionó su molestia al equipo:
“¡Qué idiota! ¡Qué manera de cerrar la puerta yendo por fuera! ¡Tuvimos una mega salida pero este chico solo sabe pilotar y ganar saliendo primero!”, dijo enfadado Alonso por la radio.
Más adelante el Mercedes de Hamilton no pudo continuar y terminó abandonando la carrera y cuando Fernando pasó junto a él le hizo una seña de No con el dedo reprobando su actuación.
Siete años tuvieron que pasar para que Fernando Alonso, regresara a un podio de la Fórmula 1, fue tercero en Qatar
Siete años tuvieron que pasar para que el dos veces campeón del mundo, Fernando Alonso, regresara a un podio de la máxima categoría del automovilismo.
El español se dio un gran agarrón con Checo Pérez que finalmente terminó por detrás de Alonso y se conformó con la cuarta posición, muy buena para la lucha de Red Bull en el campeonato de constructores.
El primer lugar se lo llevó Lewis Hamilton quien no desaprovechó la pole position y terminó siendo más rápido que Max Verstappen que llegó en segundo lugar.
El campeonato de pilotos está más cerrado que nunca y con dos carreras para conocer a los ganadores de la temporada, aún nos esperan muchas emociones vibrantes en la parte final.
En el campeonato de pilotos hay solo ocho puntos de diferencia entre el lider Verstappen y Hamilton. Y el de constructores se apretó aún más, con solo cinco puntos de diferencia que tiene Mercedes sobre Red Bull.
