Fernando Alonso in the spotlight for the wrong reasons on Friday
Once again, Friday didn’t go the way Fernando Alonso would have hoped. Just a few minutes after the session resumed following Jack Doohan’s heavy crash in FP2, the Spanish driver misjudged his approach to the tricky Degner corner, touching the grass with his left wheels on entry and ending up beached in the gravel run-off.
Despite the error, the two-time world champion didn’t vent any frustration, instead appearing rather satisfied with the balance of his Aston Martin and the promising performance outlook for the rest of the weekend in Japan.
Fernando Alonso explains the FP2 incident
“The incident? I don’t really know what happened, I need to watch it back,” Fernando Alonso told F1TV after FP2. “But I lost control of the car in a strange way. There was quite a bit of wind, with some strong gusts, and driving the car in those conditions was quite tricky. But yes, I’m not sure if I put a wheel on the grass (which the international broadcast replay seemed to show, editor’s note) or something else – we’ll have to analyze what happened. But I’ll try to avoid a similar situation in qualifying tomorrow.”
Aston Martin confident for Japanese GP qualifying
“But yes, it was still a positive day,” added the Aston Martin Racing driver. “This is a fantastic circuit to drive. As you know, there’s always a great atmosphere from the fans and we hope to put on a good show tomorrow in qualifying. The new asphalt? Yes, the track is better, there’s more grip, and the first sector, which is the most interesting part to drive with all those fast corners in succession, is now very smooth.”
“There are no bumps and it’s really fun and enjoyable. Our qualifying pace looks good; I think we’ll be more competitive than we were in China. So I hope Q3 is possible,” Fernando Alonso concluded with a smile.
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