Fernando Alonso was involved in one of the biggest upsets in qualifying for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix on Saturday. Alonso will start the race from 19th after a disastrous couple of sessions.
Alonso began the day with a heavy shunt in the final practice session, which initially put his very participation in qualifying in doubt. It was a rare mistake from the two-time world champion.
Aston Martin managed to fix his car, but Alonso couldn’t repay the favour out on track. He was unable to set a lap time good enough to escape Q1, although the team did call him into the pits on his final run when they discovered an issue.
Lance Stroll has now out-qualified Alonso at the last two Grands Prix and cut his lead to one in the overall head-to-head. Karun Chandhok called it a ‘nightmare’ day for the 42-year-old.
Of course, his performance levels for the Silverstone outfit have been so high that he’s almost beyond criticism. He’s scored 33 of their 42 points so far this year, enough to keep him above Lewis Hamilton in the championship despite Mercedes’ pace advantage.
It will be immensely difficult for Alonso to add to that tally if it stays dry on Sunday. The Imola circuit is one of the toughest on the calendar for overtaking, with only one DRS zone available.
Karun Chandhok can’t get his around Fernando Alonso off in qualifying
Alonso made one particularly costly error during qualifying, running wide and into the gravel in the first sector. It’s unclear whether he would have been able to participate in Q2 anyway with his unnamed problem, but he fluffed what may have been his best chance at progression.
After he watched the Spaniard’s error, Sky Sports F1 pundit Karun Chandhok expressed confusion. The tricky and narrow circuit has caught out plenty of drivers over the course of the weekend.
But Chandhok says it’s rare for drivers to run wide where Alonso did. It should actually have been one of the most comfortable sections of the race track in his AMR24.
“That was weird,” he said. “Turn four, the last part of that Tamburello chicane, isn’t even a corner in these modern Grand Prix cars. You don’t often see somebody go off there.”
Fernando Alonso in dispute with Formula 1 stewards
Alonso might have to get his elbows out in Sunday’s race if he’s to have any chance of scoring points. But in doing so, he will of course risk incurring the wrath of the F1 stewards.
It wouldn’t be the first time that’s happened this season. He received a heavy 20-second penalty at the Australian Grand Prix in March after they decided he’d driven unnecessarily slowly moments before George Russell’s crash.
Aston Martin expressed their concern at that decision on social media, and they were also unhappy with the penalty points Alonso incurred for a clash with Carlos Sainz in the Chinese GP sprint. They protested that verdict, which Will Buxton called ‘God’s work’.
While that appeal was ultimately unsuccessful, Alonso is nonetheless fighting for change. He said in Miami that he felt overly restricted when battling for places.
And ahead of the race in Imola, he praised Sergio Perez and Logan Sargeant for raising similar concerns. As the most experienced driver in F1 history, Alonso has seen the evolution of officiating in the sport over two decades.
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