Fernando Alonso revealed he tried to take the final corner flat-out on his last qualifying run at the Red Bull Ring.
The McLaren driver said he made the all-or-nothing bid because his lap had already been compromised.
“I went wide because I was two-tenths slower [already],” he said.“I know the television is a big fan of putting the replays but they should be able to trace the lap time, that I was slower. And I tried something different, being flat out there.”
Alonso damaged his front wing on the kerb at the end of his lap but he believes it will be repaired in time for the race. “For me it’s the first one that do so I guess I have enough.”
His final run in Q2 was his only attempt on ultra-softs in that session. “We had one set less of ultra-softs,” Alonso explained. “We chose to have two yellows [softs].
“We ran one in Q2 and it was not too bad. It felt good and it should be a good help for tomorrow.”
Charles Leclerc’s penalty will promote Alonso to 13th on the grid for tomorrow’s race. However he doesn’t believe the team can reach Q3 at the moment.
“I think it’s impossible for us,” he said. “One car is out of Q1 and last week we were both out of Q1.”
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Patrickl (@patrickl)
30th June 2018, 17:14
That makes no sense at all. He’s really losing his marbles. Perhaps caused by driving at the back for too long?
Sviat
30th June 2018, 17:52
What makes no sense? Alonso is trying literally anything to make this work. Alonso again destroyed Vandoorne (although I was sure that Vandoorne will be higher).
McLaren is in an incredibly bad shape. The engineers can’t work any more under Boullier and Brown.
Patrickl (@patrickl)
30th June 2018, 20:45
Geez do I really need to spell this out?
A: It makes no sense to go flat out through that turn when he knows it’s not possible.
B: If it was actually possible to go flat out, he should have been doing that every time
So either way, what he is saying makes no sense at all.
Big Joe
30th June 2018, 21:23
there can be a risk of trying to go flat out then going offline and losing time. He stated he was prepared to take the risk because his time had already been compromised. So pretty obvious that he wouldnt do it every lap.
So what he’s saying does make sense. You would have looked better sticking your neck out by calling him a liar rather than claiming he’s ‘losing his marbles’. Go to bed.
Jere (@jerejj)
30th June 2018, 18:15
LOL.
Kribana (@krichelle)
30th June 2018, 18:29
LMAO. But that does not mean that it is quicker. Too much steering lock causes too much speed loss. You’ll also lose exit speed.
Champagne
30th June 2018, 18:40
The sport as a whole is to blame when the best driver since Schumacher has to scrabble for 13th place. Regardless of its technical side, F1 should be such that the best driver in the world should be challenging for wins!
PT (@pt)
30th June 2018, 18:58
@Champagne
That’s my opinion too!
erikje
30th June 2018, 19:14
But he made the choices all by himself.
Alonso is a great driver but a lousy businessman.
Patrickl (@patrickl)
30th June 2018, 20:48
The driver you are describe is starting from P2. That’s not so bad is it? Or perhaps P4, but it remains to be seen how he can handle himself in an actual WDC battle.
hyoko
30th June 2018, 22:09
Not Schu. Clark, or maybe Prost
NewVerstappenFan (@jureo)
1st July 2018, 9:38
Lol sorry… Sport is not to blame.
Few years the best driver since all time also struggled around 10th place…
Alonso choose to race in a series where a majority of performance delta comes from the team.
But when he goes anywhere else he is spectacular.
Fun to watchand easy to admire. He should race Indy, the only top level spec series. If he does I’ll be watching every race.
Ruben
30th June 2018, 20:09
He really wanted that Freddo.
Todfod (@todfod)
30th June 2018, 23:53
Hahahahahaha
I’m an Alonso fan as you can tell.. but that just cracked me up.
Todfod (@todfod)
30th June 2018, 23:55
Got to agree with his approach. Leclerc was already on for penalty… so the next driver was a couple of tenths up. His current lap wasn’t going perfectly and the only way to actually get a better time was to risk going flat out in the past couple of corners (like a supreme car like Mercedes or Ferrari can do). He had to go for it .. high risk to reward as compared to no risk no reward kind of situation.
NewVerstappenFan (@jureo)
1st July 2018, 9:33
Gotta love Alonso… Bombing down the last corner and thinking “Holda on lemme take thise flat.”
This is why I’m an engineer not a racing driver. It would never cross the mind of normal sane people, to just go flat in a corner where they knew car won’t do it.
But sometimes the car does it. I bet Alonso does this kind of thing all the time and often gets his “flat” way with it.