Fernando Alonso, member of the Aston Martin F1 Team AMR24 from Spain, has expressed his willingness to participate in discussions about the Formula 1 red flag tire rules. This comes in light of the “compromised” Monaco Grand Prix, where the top 10 drivers maintained their positions from the start for the first time in history. The race became procession-like due to a stoppage on the opening lap, allowing drivers to change tires and eliminating any potential strategic variations. Many drivers found the 78-lap race “boring” as they circulated at a significantly reduced pace to preserve their tires until the finish line. Alonso believes that the excitement that Monaco normally offers was lost due to this regulation, suggesting that it should be reconsidered or removed entirely. He emphasized that the only point of interest in a Monaco race is the pit stops and without them, the race becomes dull. Alonso proposes that discussions be reopened to explore options such as not changing tires during a red flag period or being required to use the same tire throughout the race. This is necessary to prevent compromising the race on certain occasions.
However, Alonso, who was eliminated in the first qualifying session while lamenting the traffic that prevented him from progressing, admitted that this does not explain Aston Martin’s lack of competitiveness.
“In our case, it was very unfortunate once again,” Alonso continued. “I believe we lacked speed. It was a disappointing weekend, there’s no doubt about it.
“We can’t hide our performance, but we also can’t ignore the fact that we had a lot of bad luck.
“We started with a hard tire to go until the end and employ an alternative strategy.
“So, a red flag was triggered, so we had to switch to the medium tire and complete 78 laps with it, which was a risky strategy, but it was the only way to try to score some points.”
The Spaniard moved up two positions when the Haas cars were disqualified, but a significant part of his race involved driving at a slow pace to help his teammate Lance Stroll.
While Stroll managed to create a big enough gap to make a pit stop and switch to new medium tires, he fell back after suffering a puncture in the left rear tire when he hit the barrier at the Nouvelle chicane.
Alonso revealed that he thought he was holding off Daniel Ricciardo’s advances for the last position until he was informed at the end that he had finished in 11th place.
“I was confused because when Lance was in front of me after the pit stops, they said, ‘ok, we secured 10th place,'” he revealed. “We were working to secure that last point.
“Then Lance had the tire puncture, and I thought, ‘Oh, now I have the exclusive responsibility, with very worn tires, to bring that point home.’ I drove for 50 laps thinking I was in 10th place.
“And then, when I crossed the finish line and they told me I was in 11th, I thought, ‘Oh, so all that stress was in vain.’ But still, it kept me motivated.
“I don’t know. When the red flag was triggered, Lance was in 10th place, I was in 12th.
“And then, at a certain point, they reinstated Sainz in 3rd place, so we were in 12th and 14th places, we should have been in 13th and 14th, but Lance was ahead of Daniel, which shouldn’t have happened.
“So, I don’t know what position I started in, and I don’t know what position I was driving in.”
© 2024
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