Fernando Alonso has suggested that there may be a quirk of the current generation of Formula 1 cars at the root of the lack of Safety Car interventions in recent Grands Prix. F1 is currently on a streak of nine races without the Safety Car coming into play, which is the first time this has happened since the gap between the 2003 Hungarian GP and the 2004 Spanish GP. The series also includes the first Singapore Grand Prix, which finished without the need for a neutralization.
Although there is no obvious explanation for why the races have been relatively incident-free since the Spanish Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso hinted that the characteristics of modern ground-effect cars are a factor.
In particular, he suggests that the fact that the cars are actually faster when not driven to their absolute limit could explain the reduction in incidents.
“These cars are not easy to drive, but I believe that the problem with these cars is also about extracting 100% of the potential,” said the Aston Martin driver. “So if you drive at 90%, sometimes you are faster because you’re not putting the platform at racing heights or at inconvenient angles. You’re not pushing the limits, and that’s where everything collapses. So sometimes driving at 90% is faster.”
Fernando Alonso states that the performance of the current cars can create quite a bit of confusion when pushed to the limit, as must happen in qualifying.
“Baku was a great example,” he added. “I was P15 in Q1, with Lando Norris’s problem. Otherwise, I would have started 16th in the race and would have been out of Q1. Seven minutes later, I put on another set of tires and was fifth in Q2. I improved by about 1.1 seconds, but driving in the same way.”
“I was braking at the same points. The preparation was the same on that lap, but I managed to improve by 1.1 seconds. Some of us did the opposite: we were very fast in Q1 and very slow in Q2, and sometimes we can’t find explanations for when we’re fast or when we’re slow and why. If you go into the details and the unlimited number of sensors we have in the car, we can pinpoint the small differences when the car is slow. We put the car in slightly different conditions that may not be ideal and that kind of thing.” – the Spaniard pointed out.
“That’s why sometimes in races, since we all drive at 90%, having to deal with tires, fuel saving, and all those things, we don’t see too many problems or mistakes and we don’t see too many Safety Cars or incidents. The cars are ‘happier’ when you drive at that speed. It’s a bit against the driver’s instinct, which wants to put on a new tire, go into qualifying, and drive at 110% if possible. But with these cars, sometimes it’s something you have to manage.” – the Spanish driver concluded.
Leave a Reply