Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso has praised the FIA for how it has handled two potentially dangerous situations over the last two grand prix weekends.
F1’s drivers have voiced several criticisms decisions made by the FIA and F1’s race directors over the last season-and-a-half. Among these incidents were last year’s Japanese Grand Prix where race director Eduardo Freitas chose to start the grand prix in conditions some believed were too dangerous, then allowed a onto the track without warning after an accident. Current race director Niels Wittich has also received criticism after this year’s Australian Grand Prix which was red-flagged multiple times in the last laps.After Freitas and Wittich simplified the track limits rules at the start of last season, multiple drivers received penalties at this year’s Austrian Grand Prix for track limits breaches, many of which were only applied following a post-race protest by the Aston Martin team.
Most recently, the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort was stopped after a heavy rain shower in the closing laps of the race saw drivers sliding off the track. At the Italian Grand Prix, Wittich changed the maximum lap time rule in an effort to avoid dangerous the near-misses between cars seen in recent F1, F2 and F3 qualifying sessions.
Alonso qualified tenth on the grid in Monza but lost his first flying lap in Q1 for exceeding track limits on the exit of the second Lesmo. Asked if he felt track limit restrictions needed to be applied in that corner, Alonso said he was happy with how the FIA had policed the rules in qualifying.
“It is always the same rule,” Alonso said. “You cannot change the rules weekend-to-weekend. It’s always the white line. I ran wide a little bit there, so I’ll take it. it was okay.
“Also the FIA did good again, because we always blame the FIA when they do things wrong. In Zandvoort, it was good timing on the Safety Cars, red flags, things like that. And here after the F3 cars, F2, our free practice, they implemented the [maximum] time as a few years ago and I think it worked well in qualifying. There was still some traffic issues but much less than without any rules. So, as I said, sometimes they do good things, we have to say that as well.”
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Ferrari’s senior performance engineer Jock Clear offered further appreciation for Wittich’s changes. But he also believes the changes to the technical regulations introduced last year have reduced the likelihood of near-misses in qualifying as drivers no longer gain as great an advantage from their rivals’ slipstreams.
“I think what we saw in qualifying was it was relatively clean,” Clear said. “Obviously the race director made some changes before qualifying, pre-empting what we’ve seen over the last few years.
“I think that was helped by the fact that people are deciding that actually the tow is not as critical as it’s been in previous years and that’s a testament to the regulation changes. That’s the kind of thing that all the teams have worked with [FIA single seater director] Nikolas Tombazis particularly, on getting cars that aren’t so sensitive in the wake of other cars.
“Normally we hear about people complaining you can’t follow cars, but of course, it’s those very same characteristics that mean when you come to Monza, you have to follow a car. Well, we’ve got away from that. The cars follow each other better now and you don’t have to go to Monza two seconds behind the car in front to make sure you get a qualifying lap in and that makes life so much easier for everybody. So again, it’s a testament to the work the FIA have done.”
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
2023 F1 season
- FIA president cleared of alleged interference in two 2023 races
- First week viewing figures for new Drive to Survive season fall again
- Max who? Drive to Survive season six prefers its favourite faces
- RaceFans’ complete 2023 season review
- The F1 drivers who pulled off the 10 biggest charges through the field in 2023
nunof
12th September 2023, 8:27
Probably Zandvoort was fine to contine if all but one driver were on inters. It should not have been stopped if the teams decided it was fine for inters and teams should have been fully responsible for anything that would happen. We need to realize that everything that we keep pointing out it’s wrong in F1 the teams are to blame and their power and influence in the sport’s governance should be reduced drastically.
Red Andy (@red-andy)
12th September 2023, 9:05
I have seen it suggested that there was barrier damage as a result of Zhou’s crash, in which case a red flag was the only real option. However in terms of the conditions themselves, it was fine to continue – we were only just at the crossover point for full wet tyres. Some drivers (including Alonso himself) refused the switch to full wets in anticipation of the race being red-flagged, which goes to show the real problem; the expectation that racing can’t happen in full wet conditions, which influences the teams to keep using inters even when the conditions are unsuitable.
Facts&Stats
12th September 2023, 11:47
hit nail head
Coventry Climax
12th September 2023, 23:08
The headline made me think Alonso is already paving the way for a job at the FiA, but the
might mean the headline is a bit too strong for what he actually says.
melanos
13th September 2023, 1:03
Oh but you still read the headlines? Why lose your time like that? Any similarity with the actual content is purely coincidental
Coventry Climax
13th September 2023, 18:07
;-)
Nick T.
13th September 2023, 0:22
There’s nothing I despise more than Niels “Bubble Wrap” Wittich and the new FIA philosophy of a VSC, SC or even RF anytime a car pulls off the track no matter how safely a car is positioned let alone considering things like a little bit of gravel worthy of a stoppage or SC. It’s a joke.
But, yeah, some grudging praise for them not immediately throwing an RF when things got wet at the Dutch GP.