Fernando Alonso and today’s F1: “Sometimes you’re faster when you go at 90% instead of 100%”. Fernando Alonso on why we no longer see as many driver errors in races today.

F1 more complex than ever
This is the most intense F1 ever, with the smallest gaps between the front and back of the grid. But at the same time, it’s also the one with the fewest incidents—so much so that the Safety Car hasn’t been deployed since the Canadian GP—and the one in which young rookies struggle less to catch up with the more experienced champions. These aspects may seem contradictory and at odds with each other, but only on the surface. While having cars that are very close in performance might suggest more on-track battles and more mistakes, which would challenge the rookies, in reality, these are two sides of the same coin: this generation of cars is incredibly complex to understand, even before driving them. And so, sometimes not pushing 100% can paradoxically be the key to going faster.

Fernando Alonso’s opinion
At least, that’s the opinion of Fernando Alonso who, as quoted by Autosport, shared his thoughts on the complexity of the ground-effect Formula 1 cars: “These cars are not easy to drive, but I think the real issue is that it’s difficult to extract their full potential. So, if you drive at 90%, sometimes you’re actually faster than when you’re at 100%, because you might not put the car’s platform in an uncomfortable position in terms of ride height. When you’re at the limit, it’s easy for everything to fall apart, so sometimes going at 90% is enough. An example? In Baku, I was 15th in Q1 and would have been eliminated if Lando Norris hadn’t had an issue. Seven minutes later, I put on another set of tires and in Q2 I was 5th. I improved by over a second, but I drove the same way.” – the former Ferrari and McLaren driver pointed out.

“I braked at the same points,” Fernando Alonso continued, “and the preparation of the lap was the same, but I managed to improve a lot. Others did the opposite, and after being very fast in Q1, they were slow in Q2. Sometimes we can’t find an explanation for why. If we look at the sensors, we see that sometimes when we push, we put the car in an unhappy situation. In the race, we always drive at 90% because we have to take care of the tires and fuel, and maybe that’s why we don’t see as many incidents anymore. These cars perform better when driven a little slower. It’s somewhat against a driver’s instinct, who always wants new tires and to push at 110%.” – the Aston Martin driver concluded.