Despite hitting the remarkable milestone of 400 Grands Prix, Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso’s F1 Mexico City Grand Prix was anticlimactic, with the forty-three-year-old being forced to retire just 15 laps into the race after a suspected brake cooling issue caused by debris stuck in his car.
While speaking after his retirement from Sunday’s race, Alonso stated that he and his teammate, Lance Stroll, had taken advantage of the chaotic start to the race and believed themselves to be in contention to score points.
“Yeah, the start was very chaotic, but I think we took advantage, Lance and myself, to gain some positions.
“I think we were under control, you know, 11th and 12th, waiting for some opportunities maybe to score points.”
He described his early retirement as being “a little bit unlucky”, confirming that the team believed that the temperature issues with his AMR24 had been because of debris, and therefore unable to be corrected through the manipulation of settings from within the car.
“But yeah, by lap 13 or something like that, apparently the temperatures were unsafe, and I was a bit over the moon on the front left so we took some actions on the steering wheel to protect the front temperature. But yeah, they told me now there is a bit of debris or tear-off or something on the frame from brake ducts.
“So yeah, destiny, a little bit unlucky today.”
He added that while the team had initially spotted the increased temperature in their data, he himself had eventually realised that there was an issue with his brakes. He reiterated that he believed that, by the time of his retirement, his AMR24 had reached a temperature that would allow for the car to continue to be safely operated.
“Initially the team was spotting the temperature and in the last two laps the brake pedal was gone, and I think we reached an unsafe temperature to keep running.”
Despite his early retirement from the race, Alonso claimed that the weekend had been “useful” as data collected from the free practice sessions would be useful for evaluating the performance of the upgrades introduced to the car.
“Yeah, it was a useful weekend.
“A lot of testing going on in FP1, FP2, some conclusions that we can take on board.
“And yeah, hopefully we come back stronger.”
Despite this, Alonso admitted that the level of performance of the AMR24 was still not what was desired by the team. He stated that further evaluation of the upgrades would be done in Brazil.
“The level of performance is still not what we want [it] to be, and we need more, so more evaluation will come in Brazil.”
The veteran Formula One driver also spoke about the tributes that had been paid to him throughout the weekend. He stated that he had received “a lot of love” from “everyone in the paddock”, and described his weekend as being good “on that side.”
“Yeah, it was a good weekend on that side. A lot of love from everyone in the paddock this weekend. A lot of respect, so it was nice to feel all of that and I take it.”
He added that, despite the unfortunate end to the weekend, he had felt positive about the weekend.
“I have a positive feeling after this weekend despite the result. After the emotions that I was going through from Friday to today’s race.”
However, despite the “positive” aspects of his race weekend, Alonso stated that he was “looking forward for a better result” in the remaining races of the weekends, but highlighted, that despite the needed improvements in performance, luck had played a significant role in the outcome of his race.
“As I said, first of all, the performance needs to get better.
“It was an unlucky weekend with the yellow flag yesterday in Q2 with today the debris on the front brake.
“But some of the weekends I was very lucky.
“We were maybe not in the points today, so I take the bad luck when we are not in the points.”
The veteran Formula One driver, also expressed his confidence in his and his team’s performance in the upcoming São Paulo Grand Prix, highlighting that in 2023, both he and his teammate, Lance Stroll, had scored points for their team after their respective third and fifth place finishes in São Paulo, despite poor performances in Mexico.
“Last year they did, I think we were out of Q1 here in Mexico. Then we went to Brazil, and we fought for the podium until the last lap.
“I’m pretty confident that Brazil will get better.”
The Mexico City Grand Prix was similarly disappointing for Alonso’s teammate, Lance Stroll, who despite finishing the race, failed to earn points. However, despite the disappointment,
Stroll expressed that the team had done everything that had been possible to maximise their performance and stated that the team would need to focus on improving the speed of the AMR24.
“Yeah, we did everything we could. We need to find some speed on the car.”
When asked about the incident between himself and Red Bull Racing’s Sergio Pérez, Stroll stated that he did not care about the Mexican driver not receiving a penalty for having pushed him wide, describing the matter as being a consequence of wheel-to-wheel racing.
“I don’t really care.”
“Yeah, racing. I was on the outside, he pushed me wide. No strong opinion. Racing, wheel to wheel.”
When asked if he sustained any damage to his AMR24 as a result of the incident with Pérez, Stroll replied, “I don’t think so.”
“I just went through the grass, so it was okay.”
Stroll was also asked about his dejection during recent interviews, and while he denied having a pessimistic outlook on his team’s overall performance, he admitted that there were some serious deficiencies with the AMR24 which often resulted in him being disappointed after the races.
He again highlighted the team’s need to improve the speed and overall performance of the AMR24 as well as in future cars to be able to be more competitive within the races.
“No, we’re 40 seconds behind Magnussen in the Haas today.
“P11, no points. Hard-fought race, but still no reward at the end.
“We need to find some speed in the car and some performance to get back to where we want to get to.”
When asked whether he had experienced issues with his brakes that were similar to those which had forced Alonso’s early retirement from the race, Stroll denied that, stating that while had had some cooling issues, he had spent most of the race in “free air” which had helped any issues.
“No, but we had cooling issues with the altitude and all that stuff, so maybe he was in traffic and therefore struggled. I had some free air most of the race, so it makes a big difference.”
Like his teammate, however, the Canadian also expressed optimism over his team’s performance in the upcoming São Paulo Grand Prix, stating that while the team had had a “tough couple of weeks,” he believed that they could be more competitive in Brazil, especially as the weather in the South American country could play a significant factor.
“Yeah, we’ll see when we go there. It’s been a tough couple of weeks, months I would say, but maybe in Brazil, we can be a bit more competitive. Maybe some weather in Brazil is always a factor, so let’s see.”
