“Oh, so unlucky!” How Alonso’s cursed Austrian Grand Prix unfolded on his radio

18 comments on ““Oh, so unlucky!” How Alonso’s cursed Austrian Grand Prix unfolded on his radio”

1. 

   BasCB (@bascb)
   18th July 2022, 12:45

   I really enjoy these deep dives into specific drivers’ races, especially when they have had such a race with a lot happening, thanks!
2. 

   Situs (@situs)
   18th July 2022, 13:09

   Alonso’s speed with the Alpine is very positive, but I prefer to keep quiet about other things.
3. 

   Sviat
   18th July 2022, 13:27

   I think the wheel situation was safe. The wheel wouldn’t come off the axle – it wasn’t installed correctly, that’s true. But I don’t think anything bad would happen.
   Alonso also just said that now [only now] he is happy with his performance. Well, we’ll see. He needs a couple of top 10 finishes ahead of Ocon, preferably, top 5 or 6. But I doubt that.
   1. 

      BasCB (@bascb)
      18th July 2022, 14:25

      I disagree there Sviat. Sure, now that the tyres/hubs are made so that wheels “cannot” fly off anymore it is somewhat less of a safety risk. And in this situation they were going lower speed.

      But it is pretty clear that Alonso kept quiet only because he knew full well that the team would deserve an unsafe release penalty.
   2. 

      Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
      18th July 2022, 23:26

      Kimi at the very same track shows you are wrong.
      1. 

         Esploratore (@esploratore1)
         19th July 2022, 2:51

         Also think about hungary 2006, alonso himself, but I admire him for the decision to hide the issue in order to go for points.
4. 

   AlanD
   18th July 2022, 13:42

   “Loos: Seeing some rear locking for turns one and three so we could go forwards on bias.”
   “Loos: Time to gain braking for turn one and mid-corner turn four.”

   This is an example of what I dislike about radio during the race, it becomes driver coaching. During practice that’s fine, that’s what practice is for, but during the race I’d prefer it to be down to the skills of the driver.
   1. 

      S
      18th July 2022, 16:03

      I’d prefer the driving be done solely by the driver, all the time. That’s their job….
      Even the rules are written in direct support of this (the driver must drive alone and unaided at all times) but they’re never applied.
      F1 and their ‘rules’ (or suggestions, as I think of them)…
      1. 

         AlanD
         19th July 2022, 1:56

         I’d be happy if drivers could speak to the pits at any time they want, but pits could only reply

         – on formation lap
         – when car is in pit lane
         – during safety car

         Otherwise, the pits can only use the radio for specific safety instructions such as “debris on turn 6”, strategy instructions such as “pit in three laps time”, “allow Alonso to overtake”, etc, and position and gap info, weather reports, advising of penalties and warnings for off-track etc. If the pit wall has to give any instructions to the driver about the operation of the car itself such as “select mode C5” etc, then that should be an automatic stop-go penalty. If the cars are so complicated that the drivers cannot drive them unaided then that’s poor car design, and if you had automatic penalties for pit wall instruction then it follows that a car with a better-designed control system would gain an advantage. Most of all though, if the driver is having to make their own decisions about power modes, brake balance, etc, it creates much more variation between the cars.
         1. 

            S
            19th July 2022, 3:22

            Agree 99%.
            The other 1% is that I think the pits shouldn’t be talking to the driver on the formation lap at all.

            All sports are better when the coaching stops before the competition starts.
5. 

   spoutnik (@spoutnik)
   18th July 2022, 13:48

   Fantastic insights !

   I must say that individual onboard cameras are probably the nicest feature ever. I can easily deep dive into onboards for another two hours to get a grasp of each teams’ and drivers’ strategies.

   A good feature on F1TV would be the video syncing between screens though. It would allow to replay the races from different perspectives and while it’s easy to do when live it’s complicated when replaying it.
   1. 

      Dani B. Molina (@esmiz)
      18th July 2022, 14:37

      You don’t know how we envy you, those of us who live in countries where it’s not available (thanks to exclusivity contracts with local television stations that give worse coverage). I can only do that with last year’s races on F1TV :( As you say, it must be a great way to “extend” the time one enjoys the GP.

      As for the article, I love these transcripts, they give a very good picture of how each driver (and his engineer) “suffers” a race
6. 

   PT
   18th July 2022, 14:32

   Alpine’s decisions in the races have consistently been hurting Alonso. It seems that the team wants to see Ocon finish higher than Alonso.
   1. 

      Kevin
      18th July 2022, 17:29

      I am beginning to think the same.
      He was 4th quickest lin FP2 yet 2 hours later they can’t get his car started for the sprint. To make matters more puzzling, they think it was an electric motor but still don’t know for sure.
      The head honcho Rossi got rid of Prost and Bidkowski and replaced the latter with Omar who was with Ocon at Race Point and clearly favored the French driver over Perez.
      There have been too many strategy mistakes and DNF’s for coincidence. And the Omar denies they are letting ALO down! They want him out and Piastri in that seat.
      I’d be surprised if they re-sign him.
7. 

   Ipsom
   18th July 2022, 14:37

   Nice bonus of adding the lap times to these feature now. Insane pace
   1. 

      Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
      18th July 2022, 20:49

      Thanks for noticing! Glad you found it useful. Will keep looking for more ways we can improve these.
8. 

   pocrl
   18th July 2022, 18:14

   Good riddance.
   Alpine blocking other driving in Monaco backfired…
   1. 

      pocrl
      18th July 2022, 18:14

      *drivers

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