First Qatar Grand Prix Formula 1Brought an unexpected podium in 2021 Fernando Alonso Before with Alpine lewis hamilton And Max Verstappen. If this success were a surprise, it would also be a surprise if he managed to repeat this success this weekend behind the wheel of an Aston Martin that has lost power since the summer and has problems especially on tracks with medium and high speed corners such as Losail. . So even Alonso assumes that from tomorrow he will have to suffer trying to extract oil from the region. AMR23.
“Thinking about the podium this weekend seems a bit optimistic. Let’s see, it’s going to be a stressful weekend for everyone. New tarmac, extreme heat and only a few empty spaces to fine-tune the car in the sprint format,” admitted Fernando upon his arrival at the Qatar circuit on Thursday.
“It’s an interesting weekend, but looking at Suzuka it could be a difficult weekend in terms of performance,” the Spaniard said at the FIA press conference. The Grand Prix starts with a maximum temperature of 41°C (47° on the track), “The track is beautiful, it will be something different with new asphalt and new facilities. I hope it will be fun. It went quite well and had trouble in the fast corners with this generation of cars.” In a slow corner Everything is a fast corner here, so with the current cars the situation will be better than in 2021. In Free Practice 1 the question is grip and powder. Moreover, there will be more excitement with the sprint weekend,” Alonso assessed.
About his progress McLarenThere are 49 points left with 6 Grands Prix coming right behind Aston Martin as they battle for fourth place in the Constructors’ standings. Fernando thinks it will be difficult to defend himself: “They’ve had a good run and they’re pretty fast. We see ups and downs every weekend. They were strong in Austria and Silverstone before the summer break. We were on the podium at Zandvoort and they suffered there. It’s good they’re overconfident and we can beat them in Abu Dhabi.” said.
“We will have new parts towards the end of the season. Their purpose is not to make the car faster, but to guide the development of next year’s car. Nobody is bringing big updates, so I think the balance of power should be roughly the same as what we see in Japan.. “I don’t expect a race to be very different from this one and it would be a bit presumptuous to expect us to get on the podium, but a lot of things can happen.” he warned.
Asked about Max Verstappen’s likely third crown this weekendFernando highlighted the Dutchman’s impeccable talent but was hesitant when it came to comparisons with legendary drivers in F1. and especially Michael Schumacher: “I can only congratulate Max on what has been an incredible season and breaking records. When you win so many races in a row and some of them are not easy races… in variable weather conditions, like the period from June to July, sometimes it rains “You can only have great respect without making any mistakes,” he emphasized. “To be honest, I only rode with Michael one by one. Maybe yes, it can be compared. But we have to wait. The next few years can be even better for Max, he will continue to add championships, we will be able to compare.” “It will bring her closer to Michael in the future,” he added.
Regarding Andretti’s interest in joining the F1 grid in 2026 after passing FIA screening and after an agreement has not been reached with FOM, Fernando expressed his perspective: It’s a great team and a good team, without a doubt. The name of F1. We trust the FIA and FOM in this regard. Are there more drivers on the grid? “Even with 50 drivers you’re always fighting 2-3 drivers with a similar package, so I don’t know.”