Fernando alonso

With the retirement of Kimi Raikkonen, now Fernando Alonso is the oldest driver in F1 at the age of 40. During the season he will turn 41 is just four years older than 7-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, but he feels his age is not a disadvantage especially after he returns with a strong season under his belt. Alonso believes that his experience driving in the world endurance championship where he won the LeMans twice and the race in Daytona could hand him a critical edge, especially with the tyres and the weight of the cars. Fernando Alonso had a cycling accident which hampered his 2021 preparations Photo Credit: Instagram "On the age, I feel good, honestly I feel an advantage. When I come to a circuit, I know the circuits. Now everyone is testing this 18-inch tyre and I know very well these tyres from the WEC," said the 2005 and 2006 F1 world champion. "There is exactly the same behavior on the tyres and the same way you have to drive the tyre, which is very … [Read more...] about F1: Fernando Alonso Believes His Age Is An Advantage Heading Into 2022 Season

As he returned to Formula 1 after two years away, Fernando Alonso took a few races to play himself in. But once he’d done that he left little room for doubt that he is every bit as quick and tenacious as he was when he won his last world championship 15 years ago. Fernando Alonso Beat team mate in qualifying 11/22 Beat team mate in race 9/18 Races finished 20/22 Laps spent ahead of team mate 626/1127 Qualifying margin +0.35s Points 81 When Esteban Ocon was eliminated in Q1 in Bahrain and Alonso pressed on into the final 10, it looked as though the two-times champion was going to dish out the kind of pummelling Stoffel Vandoorne suffered at his hands back in 2018. But that proved a false dawn. At Imola, where he dropped out in Q2 and skidded off the track on a wet reconnaissance lap, then fell behind Ocon in the race, Alonso admitted he wasn’t fully comfortable in the Alpine yet. Ocon left him behind in qualifying at Algarve … [Read more...] about 2021 F1 driver rankings #6: Fernando Alonso · RaceFans

While plans are in place to extend sprint qualifying into 2022 and beyond, Fernando Alonso thinks fans’ voices need to be heard regarding its future. Three trial sprint qualifying sessions took place in 2021 with Silverstone, Monza and Interlagos hosting ‘races’ at one-third distance to decide the grid after a standard qualifying session. Formula 1 introduced the format to have ‘meaningful’ action over the course of all three days of a race weekend, with Friday usually solely reserved for practice sessions. The number of sprints in 2022 is set to double to six, but McLaren CEO Zak Brown has cast doubt over this possibility with teams yet to agree on the finances of how they will be incorporated into the season. Alonso said he has a positive opinion of the sprints as a whole, but insisted fans must be at the heart of whether or not they continue – as he indicated the teams have no particular preference about sprint or traditional weekends. “I think this format is made … [Read more...] about Alonso: ‘Fans must decide’ future of sprints

Hoping to increase the number of sprint races from three to six this season, Fernando Alonso feels F1 fans should have a say. Last season Formula 1 tried a new race weekend format at three grands prix – the British, Italian and Sao Paulo races – using a sprint race to determine the grid for the grand prix on the Sunday. While Max Verstappen managed to overhaul Lewis Hamilton in the first, setting up their spicy start to the British Grand Prix that ended with the Red Bull driver in the barrier, Monza was a damp squid with several drivers calling it boring. Brazil, however, produced the exact opposite as Hamilton, penalised with a back-of-the-grid start, produced one of the best drives of the championship as he raced his way from P20 to P5 in just 24 laps. Formula 1 is hoping to push on with the concept this season, targetting six sprint races. Before that is set in stone, Alonso says F1’s powers-that-be should ask the fans for their opinions and whether they feel anything … [Read more...] about Alonso says fans should have a vote on sprint races

Sebastian Vettel kept up his winning streak with his fourth victory in a row in Malaysia. Advert | Become a Supporter & go ad-free But Red Bull’s rivals were able to push them closer during the race and Jenson Button finished only three seconds behind. Vettel held his lead at the start but had to defend carefully from Lewis Hamilton . That allowed Nick Heidfeld – who made an excellent start from sixth – to grab second ahead of the two McLarens. The other Renault of Vitaly Petrov also made a good start but he couldn’t resist pressure from Felipe Massa. The Ferrari driver used DRS to pass at turn one, and Petrov went off shortly afterwards gifting sixth to Fernando Alonso. Bad start for Webber Mark Webber’s Kinetic Energy Recovery System failed to work at the start and he dropped like a stone, ending up in a dogfight with Kamui Kobayashi for tenth place. After several passes and re-passes Webber instead tried to gain a strategic advantage with an … [Read more...] about Vettel takes fourth win in a row as Hamilton and Alonso tangle in hectic race · RaceFans

Fernando Alonso said the stewards’ enforcement of Formula 1’s track limits rules was “random” during the United States Grand Prix. Advert | Become a Supporter & go ad-free The Alpine driver was involved in three rows over track limits involving the Alfa Romeo drivers. He repeatedly complained on the radio after he was overtaken by Kimi Raikkonen , who ran wide at turn one and was allowed to keep the position. Later in the race Alonso was told to hand a place to Antonio Giovinazzi after running wide. In a further incident the Alfa Romeo driver was instructed to do the same after he went off “It was normal battles but the rules are a little bit random,” said Alonso after the race. A conversation between his team and FIA F1 race director Michael Masi discussing the Raikkonen incident was played during the broadcast of the race. However Alonso, who has criticised the stewards’ decisions previously this year, said he isn’t interested in discussing it futher. … [Read more...] about “Random” rules let F1’s American fans down says Alonso after track limits row · RaceFans

The stewards’ decision not to penalise Kimi Raikkonen for passing Fernando Alonso off the track at turn one was “marginal”, FIA Formula 1 race director Michael Masi has admitted. Advert | Become a Supporter & go ad-free The decision infuriated Alonso, who described the stewards’ rulings as “random” after the race . Masi said he understood Alonso’s frustration over the decision and he intended to raise the matter with drivers at the next race. “The call with regards to him and Kimi at turn one was certainly marginal,” said Masi. “It’ll be something we’ll have a discussion at the next drivers’ meeting with all drivers about.” The stewards took into consideration the fact Raikkonen was off-track when he passed Alonso, but also whether the Alpine driver was required to leave his rival more room at the exit of the corner, Masi explained. “There was two parts to the story, let’s call it, which has been obviously the overtake and looking at the forcing off-track … [Read more...] about Raikkonen call was ‘marginal’ FIA admits as Alonso highlights ‘inconsistency’ · RaceFans

F1 raced on a tweaked layout of the track on the outskirts of Barcelona for the first time last weekend after Turn 10 was reprofiled in a bid to improve overtaking and make the corner faster. But drivers remained more critical about the Turn 14-15 chicane in the final sector, which was introduced in 2007 and has long been a point of contention. A number of drivers have called for a return to the two sweeping right-hand corners that were previously used, leading the drivers back onto the main straight instead of slowing speeds down. Sebastian Vettel said ahead of the race weekend that one way to solve the lack of overtaking in Spain would be "to bring back the last two corners", and that he had "hopes for the future" that the layout would return. FIA race director Michael Masi explained after the race that a return to the old layout in the final sector has been considered as part of the governing body's continuous reviews of circuits. But he warned that it was not a snap … [Read more...] about FIA has evaluated removal of final Barcelona chicane for F1

Ex-Aston Martin team boss Otmar Szafnauer is reportedly closing in on a move to Alpine, and bringing pink with him. Alpine and Aston Martin have both been ringing in the changes during the off-season. Over at Aston Martin , Szafnauer has departed his role as team principal, as had been rumoured ever since Martin Whitmarsh arrived as the new CEO of the Aston Martin F1 team. Since then experienced former BMW head of motorsport Mike Krack had taken over the team principal role. Alpine’s staff shuffle has been the more volatile, with Alain Prost, who turned down an extension to his non-executive director role at Alpine, taking a final shot at the brand’s CEO Laurent Rossi after the premature announcement . Prost claimed in an interview with L’Equipe that under Rossi there was a “real desire to put a lot of people on the sidelines”, Prost included, with the Frenchman adding that “Laurent Rossi wants all the light”. Marcin Budkowski also left Alpine having served as … [Read more...] about Szafnauer expected to bring BWT, and pink, to Alpine