The champion who has won the world title twice started in the 15th position for the Saturday race, which was shorter in duration. This was because they did not set a time during Q2 due to the red flag caused by their teammate Lance Stroll’s accident.
Beginning from the 15th position, due to not having track advantage, he remained on the circuit for an additional lap before making a pit stop to exchange his wet tires for intermediate tires in a race affected by rain.
On the third lap of the shortened 11th race, Alonso’s AMR23 car spun out of control and ended up in the gravel at Pouhon. This happened while he was trying to catch up to Nico Hulkenberg’s Haas car. As a result, Alonso had to retire from his 16th place position.
The Spaniard admitted complete responsibility for this collision, stating: “I was closely following Nico as we entered Pouhon. I experienced a loss of downforce, brushed against the white line, and ultimately lost control of the car.
Finding traction and estimating the levels of traction in each turn proved to be challenging. The surface was extremely slippery, and the lack of grip was due to my own error.
Aston Martin stated that his car remained undamaged despite lightly brushing against the barriers.
Hulkenberg playfully remarked that Alonso’s mishap with the car, after “enjoying my turbulence”, was a situation where “karma retaliated against him”.
The German’s comment followed the pair coming to blows on lap two of 11 when Alonso rejoined the track after pitting.
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin AMR23, Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri AT04, Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo C43
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images
The driver of the Aston Martin seemed to intentionally move towards the left side of the track, causing Hulkenberg to slow down in order to avoid driving over the wet grass.
Alonso was called by the stewards due to his forceful comeback and received a cautionary notice.
After examining the footage from the onboard camera, the stewards observed that Alonso, while leaving the pits, veered towards the left, resulting in car 27 having to react quickly to avoid a crash.
Alonso clarified that during that time, he couldn’t see what was happening behind him. He mentioned that on each lap, he deliberately drove on the far left side of the track in order to have the best possible view ahead.
Although the Stewards acknowledge these facts, the transition from the right side to the left side in this situation, although slower than the cars that stayed on track, created a risk of a possible collision.
Alonso will start the full Sunday GP from ninth place.
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