The Qatar Grand Prix, the penultimate of this 2024 Formula 1 season, meant the return of Fernando Alonsoand Aston Martin, on the points after more than two months of absence. The seventh position of the Spaniard from Oviedo repaired a good part of the Asturian’s frustration during the first laps, when he protested harshly about the poor speed of the AMR24 on the straights.
Alonso started in eighth position after a great qualifying sessionand maintained that place at the start, but everything changed with the incidents of the first laps. An accident between Nico Hülkenberg, Esteban Ocon and Franco Colapinto brought out the Safety Car, and the Aston Martin frontrunner was preparing to fish in a troubled river with the green flag.
Nothing could be further from the truth. In the first meters, the man from Oviedo lost the position with Lewis Hamiltonsomething that falls within the logical outcomes given the performance of the cars, but Immediately afterwards he was also surpassed by Yuki Tsunoda, Pierre Gasly and Kevin Magnussenbeing relegated to a twelfth place that seemed impossible to score points on the Losail Circuit.
It was at this moment when Alonso couldn’t take it anymore. He informed his team of a problem with the car, and did not hold anything back: “I can’t believe it, two years with the same fucking problem on the straights”the two-time world champion broke out due to the impossibility of fighting even in the middle zone of the grid. Formula 1.
Later, the Asturian overtook a Tsunoda with destroyed tires, and thanks to a good strategy under another safety car, he was able to face the last laps with medium tires, which allowed him attack in the relaunches and maintain a creditable seventh positionwhich seals in stone its ninth place in the drivers’ table.
Once the race was over, Alonso offered an explanation for what happened: “The speed problem is in the power unit next to the brakes. When we hit the exit, the car sometimes thinks it is behind the Safety Car. “It doesn’t give you all the energy.”the pilot reviewed Aston Martin. “We thought it was resolved, but it has happened again,” shared the man from Oviedo, giving meaning to his frustration.