At this stage there probably isn’t much more can be thrown at Fernando Alonso during a Grand Prix that he hasn’t already seen in his long and distinguished career as a Formula One driver but that doesn’t mean that the conditions he experienced at the Lusail International Circuit this Sunday were any less unpleasant.
The Spaniard was present for the hottest Grand Prix to date at Bahrain in 2005 where temperatures reached 42.5 degrees Celsius and on Sunday you can be sure he drew some comparisons to that particular race as he demanded his mechanics throw a bucket of water over him as he came in for a pit stop. Unfortunately for the 42-year-old, his team were unable to comply with his request even as he complained about the extreme heat in the cockpit of his AMR23 over the radio.
Speaking after the race he laughed about the radio message as he spoke to reporters:
“Apparently it’s not allowed, they didn’t help me on that. I had a very warm seat…by lap 15 I got semi-burned on the right hand side. The conditions were quite extreme today and maybe that seat didn’t help”
Continuing to address the fatigue he and the rest of the grid went through in the punishing conditions the Spaniard went so far as to say that it was “on the limit” of what should be allowed and said that F1 should perhaps to look to Football where the players take water breaks when playing in high temperatures, before grinning as he said the race was “on the podium” of the toughest races out of the 372 he has competed in.
Starting at P4 on the grid, something he hailed as somewhat of a return to form – his best qualifying result since the Canadian Grand Prix – the double world champion had resigned himself following qualifying to not being able to compete with the resurgent McLarens come race day.
Indeed he was swiftly overhauled by both papaya liveried cars by half distance. He even made a rare unforced error at turn 2 as he went off into the gravel before a slightly risky rejoin ahead of the Ferrari of Leclerc via an escape road.
Both Leclerc and George Russell then cleared the Aston Martin driver as he struggled for grip on his now dirty tyres. Alonso was never able to regain those positions and had to make do with P6 though he seemed reasonably pleased with the outcome:
“We could have done a little bit better in terms of positions in the end but in the positives I think I felt more competitive this weekend than in the last few events.”
With Aston Martin looking less and less likely to finish ahead of McLaren for 4th in the championship, Alonso will be hoping he feels the same in the coming races to close out the season.
