Fernando Alonso was unimpressed by how many of his laps were spoiled by traffic during practice in Monaco.
The Aston Martin driver wants the stewards to take a tougher line on drivers impeding their rivals tomorrow.“I think traffic will be the main topic,” he said. “We know with these cars it’s quite difficult to fit two cars on track.
“Obviously free practice is different to qualifying so hopefully a harsher approach, in terms of penalties, will be taken tomorrow in qualifying. If not, it’s going to be difficult.
“But it’s the same for everybody so you have to be lucky in qualifying and to have that clean lap will help always to make some progress in Q1 and Q2 and let’s see.”
During the second practice session Alonso complained he was being distracted by the number of drivers who cut across the chicane at turns 10 and 11. “No one is doing turn 10,” he told his race engineer Chris Cronin. “It’s so distracting. Why do they miss the corner? Why are you allowed to?”
Alonso’s team mate Lance Stroll was the only driver penalised for an incident involving a driver who was trying to overtake him. Charles Leclerc collided with the Aston Martin driver early in the first practice session. The stewards gave Stroll a one-place grid penalty.
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Several drivers complained about the traffic in Monaco on Friday. Yuki Tsunoda said he wasn’t able to conduct any useful running on the medium tyre in second practice because of it.
“I didn’t have any laps,” he said. “I had one lap, but then a red flag and everything, I just had a single lap to be honest.”
He was able to complete some representative runs on the soft tyre. “It’s almost up to luck to get a lap,” he said.
“In FP1 I didn’t have any [clean] laps. Fortunately, I had a few more laps in FP2. It was alright.”
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2025 Monaco Grand Prix
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osnola
23rd May 2025, 21:12
Well, he absolutely has a point. But twenty big cars on the shortest track will allways be challenging for everyone.
That said some drivers seem to learn slow.. Bortoletto, Hamilton and of course the Stroll move..
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
23rd May 2025, 22:35
Hamilton especially has been really poor at getting out the way on this track. Twice Lawson complained about him specifically in two separate sessions and I remember in qualifying years ago, (maybe 2017?) I remember Magnussen complaining about Hamilton holding him up so badly. I could list a few other drivers that have pointed out Hamilton getting in the way over the years too. He seems to be one of the worst on this track in this aspect.
Stroll today though was ridiculous. I can’t understand how he has so many of these pure blank and careless moments when he is way past being a rookie. It also seems odd this season given he’s been so inconsistent. He’s got a very good amount of points given how bad that car is, but has put in many poor performances too. But it does seem a bit worrying that drivers like Sainz who are supposedly good drivers has less points than Stroll, in a significantly better car that keeps demonstrating to be better than Ferrari. Albon having 40 points is showing where that car should be at the very least.
SteveP
23rd May 2025, 22:49
I note that Lawson complained that Hamilton braked just before the corner…
Maybe if Lawson did the same, he’d crash less?
Des Mo
24th May 2025, 0:09
They started with his boss’ son
BLS (@brightlampshade)
24th May 2025, 8:06
I feel like we’re almost guaranteed Alonso getting a impeding penalty now