Damage to Fernando Alonso’s car: “It was our best race of the year, but that incident at turn 11 ruined it. He lost half a second or more with the damage”

Fernando Alonso saw all his chances of scoring points in the United States GP with a Aston Martin with very good race pace on the first lap. He Thai Alex Albon (Williams), tried to attack him too optimistically on the inside in turn 11 and ended up hitting the Spaniard’s carhim, ruining his career and throwing away all of the Oviedo’s scoring options.

Fernando believes that he had a car to aspire to score again in the Circuit of the Americasa track where the low power of the Honda engine did not affect him so much and where he could make a difference with his race pace and the good tire degradation of his AMR26. The Asturian considered that his race pace was to be 9th or 10th. But that touch stopped him from going for it. “The car is damaged. Fucking idiots”he said on the radio.

At first glance, damage could be seen on the side of the front wing and a lot of damage on the left side of the car, especially on the edges of the floor. Thus, with many aerodynamic load points lost, the race was going to waste for a man from Oviedo who did not stop trying.

So much so that Fernando Alonso revealed in statements to the media, as reported by ‘Motorsport.com’, that he lost up to “half a second or more” due to these damages.

Fernando had lost one place at the start and was 13th, but he dropped to 17th after that touch from Albon. However, he still had more speed than the Williams and passed Carlos Sainz and, on lap 12, Alex Albon, who to make matters worse, apart from not even being investigated for that collision (he did not receive a penalty), made Alonso lose time behind him for three laps.

He went to extend his first round in search of a one-stop strategy, exhibiting a promising race pace despite the damage, better than that of the opponents in front of him in that middle zone, like the Audis. But that accident prevented him from going to a stop and he had to return to the pits.

He made his first stop, on lap 29, and was 14th, with great pace, but he saw how his car lost a part and lost charge in the front. I had to stop again. He even warned by radio that he had to retreat. But he continued fighting until the end after having to change his front wing on lap 42. He continued fighting despite having no options, to finish 16th, far from the position he could fight for this Sunday.

“I think it was our best race in terms of competitiveness of the entire year, by far. The car was very strong in the race, with good wheel management. We had some big damage on lap 1 with an incident with Albon and despite this the car was still competitive. I think we had a ninth or tenth place today on our own merits. “It was our best race of the year, but he ruined it in that incident at turn 11.”he pointed at the F1 microphone.

“My point of view? That Albon forgot that turn 11 was there and had to turn left. But we have to improve and start the race higher, because I think that at the back of the grid the quality of the drivers is very low at the moment,” added the Asturian, angry about that accident that left him without options.

Newey looks on the bright side

“Fernando’s front wing had to be changed on lap 42, which thwarted our plans for a one-stop strategy and left him out of the race for the top spots,” said Adrian Newey after the race.

“Before the pit stop, Fernando’s pace was on par with the cars in front of him, but we couldn’t match his speed on the straight.which meant that there was no option to overtake,” he highlighted.

“Lance – who started from the pit lane – moved up to 15th place at the checkered flag, despite losing downforce at the rear of the car after his second pit stop. We need to analyze the data to understand exactly what happened,” added the Aston Martin Team Principal.

“Despite these problems, we will focus on the positive aspects: both drivers were in the fight with good race pace and they got the most out of the car today,” Adrian concluded.