It was not the weekend hoped for for Fernando Alonso who, following a disappointing qualifying which ended with a twentieth place, will have to start from the pit lane today after Aston Martin chose to make a mechanical change to its car during the parc fermé period .
A difficult Saturday to digest on a track that has seen him achieve successes in the past, especially because in reality the Spaniard thought he had the potential to overcome the first trap in qualifying. Alonso was in fact among the drivers at risk, especially after that gap in the first sector exiting the Tamburello area which had made him abort the second attempt, among other things having to return to the pits to replace the tires which were now dirty for the exit of track.
After changing tires, the Asturian returned to the track for his final run, however making a mistake in the first attempt which pushed him once again to abort the lap. At that point, Alonso himself suggested in the pits the idea of having teammate Lance Stroll follow in his wake, in order to have an extra element to overcome the trap.
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin AMR24
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
However, on the contrary, the team suddenly called him back to the pits claiming that he couldn’t do another lap, even though there was actually still time left on the clock. Aston Martin did not reveal the nature of the problem, whether it was something technical or whether he simply didn’t have enough fuel on board as, when he returned to the pits to change tires for the last time after going off in the gravel , did not refuel. As clarified by Alonso, however, in theory the team had taken on a good amount of petrol at the start of the session.
“It was just one of those days where everything went wrong. In FP3 we clearly had the accident, the mechanics did a good job to prepare everything for Q1. Then in Q1 there was a bad combination of things, to be honest. We started with fuel throughout the session, just to give me some laps and practice. I set the time right at the start, when the car was full of fuel,” said Alonso, who recorded his best time in the first part of the session, failing to complete a clean lap when the car was most empty.
“When the car got lighter at the end and we put on the last set of tyres, I had to pit for an unknown problem. They called me to the garage, I asked several times if I should come back, but that’s how it went. I feel sorry for the mechanics because they deserved a little more after the work they did. But yeah, one of those days where everything goes wrong.”
In the end, however, this situation resulted in a twentieth place on the starting grid, which pushed Aston Martin to make changes to its car in view of the set-up race, in particular on a mechanical level, as confirmed by the document released by the FIA. Having made some changes in the Parc Fermé period, Alonso will be forced to start from the pit lane, which, at least, could leave him out of the chaos of the first corners.
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin AMR24
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
“If we start from the pits, there are also advantages. We also saw the accident in F2 at the start. We must avoid this type of thing due to the amount of spare parts we have as a Formula 1 team,” Alonso said yesterday. on the possibility of starting from the pit lane, underlining how avoiding accidents can also prove important in terms of budget cap, especially bearing in mind that Aston Martin showed up at Imola with a new package of which it still doesn’t have many spare parts. you have to think that the next round will be Monaco, another city track where a mistake can be costly.
“I think it’s the second most difficult circuit to overtake, just after Monaco. Singapore is easier to overtake than Imola, so that says a lot. It will be a difficult race, but we should be able to learn something about the package too,” added the Spaniard, underlining how now, barring any particular events, this race will become more of a sort of test to understand more about the new updates.
Teammate Lance Stroll didn’t fare much better after qualifying in thirteenth place, suggesting that Aston’s Imola package isn’t enough to keep up with the mid-pack teams.
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