Alonso laments bad luck: “Others finish in the top five with poor weekends — my career’s always been like this”. Fernando Alonso laments more bad luck at Imola.

Unlucky Virtual
“I’m the unluckiest driver in the whole f***ing world.” So said Fernando Alonso over the radio during the Emilia Romagna GP — a race that truly looked like it could finally offer Aston Martin, and especially him (still stuck on zero points in the standings), the right chance to break a negative streak at the start of the season. Instead, after yesterday’s excellent qualifying thanks to the clever choice of medium tyres, and after a first part of the race in which the Silverstone cars seemed capable of fighting for a top-five spot, the Virtual Safety Car introduced by Race Control due to Ollie Bearman’s retirement destroyed Aston Martin’s strategy.

“We had a strong start and I was able to follow Norris and Russell,” Alonso said to reporters in the mixed zone at Imola. “Russell was a bit slower than the two of us and I almost had to pinch myself, because I was at the front end of the grid and was competitive. Then we stopped and we were on course to secure P6, P7 today with both cars. But then the Virtual Safety Car obviously allowed those who hadn’t pitted yet to do it for free. They all came out of the pits right in front of us on fresher tyres, and the race was over at that point. I think in 100 race scenarios, 99 would’ve gone well for us and given us important points for the team. One wouldn’t — and that’s the one we got. Let’s hope that in other races, where maybe we wouldn’t deserve points, we’ll get them thanks to luck,” said a dejected Alonso.

A jab at Lewis Hamilton?
The Spaniard didn’t even stir controversy over the decision to deploy a VSC for Oliver Bearman’s retirement while opting for a full Safety Car later for Antonelli’s — even though both incidents occurred at the same spot. “It made no difference to us — there was a crane removing the car,” said the two-time world champion, closing that discussion. Instead, Alonso vented to the media by listing all the bad luck that has hit him this year: “I think this whole season has been incredible so far. Looking back, in Australia I felt strong; in China I had brake fire when I was P11, and then that turned out to be the race with three disqualified cars; in Miami we didn’t stop for slicks. Today, for the first time, we finally had a strong car, capable of scoring points on merit, and there was this Virtual. It never happened when we were P12 or P13 in other races. Overall, as you know, my career has always been on the ‘unlucky’ side.”

Finally, Alonso seemed to let slip a small jab that appears — though this is only our interpretation — to be directed at Hamilton and Ferrari. At the end of his comments, still lamenting his bad luck, Aston Martin’s #14 said: “People who had a very mediocre weekend still finished in the top five…” Looking at the final results, the allusion to his historic rival from many battles seems fairly clear.