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'One of those days where everything went wrong' - Alonso
Fernando Alonso was left to rue a day “where everything went wrong” after crashing in FP3 and qualifying 19th for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
Aston Martin were looking to reach Q3 with an upgraded car in Imola but had their preparations for qualifying hit when Alonso spun at the final corner and hit the barrier. The damage required both car crews to work on Alonso’s car to get it ready in time for Q1, but then an unspecified issue led to him aborting his final attempt to advance and he was slowest of those to set a time before Logan Sargeant saw a lap deleted.
“One of those days that everything went wrong,” Alonso said. “Starting [with] FP3 obviously with a crash, quite heavy. The mechanics did a good job to make everything ready for Q1.
“And then in Q1, a combination of things, to be honest. We started with fuel for the whole session, just to give me a little bit of laps and practice. Just preparing some pit stops.
“I set the lap time at the very beginning when the car was heavy on fuel. Then when the car was light at the end and we put the last set of tires on, I had to box for an unknown problem. They called me [to] box, so it was quite painful.
“I asked a few times [if they were sure they wanted me to box now]… I'm sorry for the mechanics because they deserve better after the job that they have done. But yeah, one of those days that everything goes in the wrong place.”
Alonso did at least feel that the Aston Martin upgrades were a step forward but believes the nature of the Imola circuit means he might struggle to show that pace on Sunday.
“The car felt a little bit faster this morning compared to yesterday before the crash. Now into qualifying the car also felt good. As I said, that lap is the first lap of the day for me on soft tires and heavy on fuel.
“I think there is a little bit of pace in hand. But yeah, the upgrades, I think the team is the one to analyze it and to comment on it. I think we have a lot of data from yesterday, especially FP1.
“Let's see. I think Imola is one of the worst places to start at the back … it is the second most difficult circuit to overtake behind Monaco. Singapore ranks easier than [Imola] to overtake, so that tells everything. It's going to be a tough race, but we should be able to learn something about the package.”
Chris Medland
While studying Sports Journalism at the University of Central Lancashire, Chris managed to talk his way into working at the British Grand Prix in 2008 and was retained for three years before joining ESPN F1 as Assistant Editor. After three further years at ESPN, a spell as F1 Editor at Crash Media Group was followed by the major task of launching F1i.com’s English-language website and running it as Editor. Present at every race since the start of 2014, he has continued building his freelance portfolio, working with international titles. As well as writing for RACER, his broadcast work includes television appearances on F1 TV and as a presenter and reporter on North America's live radio coverage on SiriusXM.
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