2023-09-17 18:44:20
(Motorsport-Total.com) – “A race to forget,” says Fernando Alonso following the 2023 Singapore Grand Prix. The Spaniard finished the race in 15th place and missed the points on a weekend for the first time in the current Formula 1 season.
In addition to the other problems, Alonso had a slow pit stop
“We didn’t have the pace we had hoped for,” he shrugs and explains that “too many things” happened. He waves off his own “mistake” in the pit entrance, which earned him a five-second penalty, “a slow pit stop, traffic, all in one race.”
“Hopefully we can put all these bad things behind us, learn from them and do better in Japan,” said Alonso, who hopes that they had enough bad luck in Singapore for the coming races. It started with teammate Lance Stroll not being able to start at all.
The Canadian crashed hard in qualifying, and in the race on Sunday Alonso once described the Aston Martin on the radio as “undriveable”. When asked what exactly was wrong, the two-time world champion replied: “We have to look into that.”
The rear in particular caused him major problems in the race. Alonso reports: “After the pit stop we burned the tires very quickly. So it was a tough race. We have to look at the details.”
Was Singapore just “an outlier”?
Particularly annoying: Singapore was actually a track where Aston Martin thought it had good chances. “We all expected a strong weekend in Singapore. That wasn’t the case,” admits Alonso, who personally had hoped for much more.
“We didn’t deliver. Let’s hope we’re better in Japan,” he shrugs, but also emphasizes that you shouldn’t expect any “magic” in Suzuka. “Maybe there will be a nice surprise. Let’s hope for it,” said Alonso.
Does it perhaps provide some consolation that class leader Red Bull also experienced a dark weekend in Singapore? “It’s different from track to track. To be honest, I expect Red Bull to dominate in Japan. So that was an outlier,” believes Alonso.
“Singapore hasn’t been good for Mercedes in the past either when they dominated the championship. So it’s a very special race weekend,” he emphasizes. Of course, that might also give Aston Martin hope that things are going better once more in Suzuka.
By the way: Alonso denies that the new technical guidelines that came into effect for the first time in Singapore have anything to do with the weak Aston Martin result. “No, nothing has changed for us. We didn’t have to adjust anything,” he clarifies.
In the Drivers’ World Championship, the Spaniard lost a place to Lewis Hamilton due to his first zero result of the year. He is now only fourth and is now ten points behind his former teammate.
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