Alonso starts last and from the pit lane in the Formula 1 race at Imola.
Fernando Alonso will finally start last at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, but not from last place on the grid, but from the pit lane Imola circuit after the team’s decision to break down the indoor park and modify their car.
Aston Martin’s improvements unveiled this weekend have so far failed to make the car any more competitive and also seem to make it more difficult to drive. Alonso crashed in it in FP3 on Saturday and then, after work by the mechanics for a while, he was able to qualify, but crashed again in Q1, crashing out at the first opportunity.
Alonso said it was an unknown error that left him in last position. When track restrictions erased Logan Sargeant’s lap, the American fell by the wayside and the Spaniard gained a place, which he is now losing again after Aston Martin decided to change the settings of the two-time race champion’s car. hope for a better career.
It is also understood that the team was unable to replace Alonso’s car with the same parts after the FP3 crash as it likely did not have enough parts from the developed version of the AMR24, so the car’s specification was changed, which also meant having to start from the pit.
The FIA explained: “During Parc Fermé yesterday and today, the Aston Martin Aramco Formula 1 team made changes to the suspension settings of the number 14 car. Therefore, the number 14 car is now required to start the race from the pit lane in accordance with the rules FIA. Article 40.9 of the 2024 Formula 1 Sporting Regulations.”
Asked after qualifying if he was going to start from the pit lane, he replied: “Maybe, I think, I don’t know, I’m not sure what it is about the car. If we start from scratch, then there are such problems. some benefits because we saw the crash at the beginning of the F2 sprint. We need to avoid things like that because of the amount of parts we have and so on. So yeah, that could be an option because I think it’s the points. .tomorrow is a little unlikely.
In this way, Alonso will lose the opportunity to gain positions at the start, but at the same time, as he points out, he will avoid the chaos that could arise in the first corner, on a track that he has identified as the second largest. difficult to overcome in the calendar.
Commenting on his chances this Sunday, he said: “We’ll see. I think Imola is one of the worst places to start from behind. I think this is the second most difficult track to overtake, right after Monaco. It’s easier to overtake me than Imola, and that says it all. It will be a tough race, but we will also be able to learn something about the package.”
Aston Martin Racing AMR24