There are three certainties in life: death, taxes and Fernando Alonso talking about track limits. The two-time F1 world champ is back raising awareness of how his rivals have been bending the rules on the first lap of the race, seemingly without punishment. Let us grab some popcorn.
With a meeting on Friday between FIA Race Director Michael Masi and the current grid, Alonso wants to use the opportunity to get some clarification on why so many drivers were able to exceed track limits at the Circuit of the Americas on the first lap of the US Grand Prix.
Honestly, we hope Alonso vs the FIA gets a whole episode on Netflix’s Drive To Survive next year.
Fernando has already been very vocal this year when it comes to track limits. He had a bit of a rant on team radio during the Austrian Grand Prix when he accused Daniel Ricciardo of exceeding track limits on the first lap and gaining an advantage. Then there was the whole Sochi incident which will go down as an iconic Alonso moment.
However, the most recent example came about during the last race when Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen were fighting for position. As the duo began Lap 16, they made contact with one another on the outside of Turn 1. Raikkonen then drove onto the run-off and passed him at the next corner, which Fernando wasn’t pleased about.
“The meeting is [Friday], so I’m open to listening to whatever they want to say,” Alonso is quoted as saying by RaceFans. “But this is exactly what I don’t want to happen. I think there are many other things we should discuss in that meeting, like Lap 1.”
An exit kerb was removed at Turn 1 for the US Grand Prix following Fabienne Wohlwend’s car being launched into the air during the W Series race. The sausage kerb was placed there to prevent cars from running wide, but with it gone, plenty of the F1 grid took advantage during the start of the race.
That one hurt. Not the season finale we wanted but 6th in the Chapionship means I secured my 2022 @WSeriesRacing seat 🙌🏼
I can't thank everyone from W Series, the Bunker & F1 enough for making this possible ♥️
But I promise you – the best is yet to come, see you in 2022!💋 pic.twitter.com/16hhfXpP2t
— Fabienne Wohlwend (@FWohlwend5) October 25, 2021
“They removed the bumps on the outside after the problem with F4 or wherever, the car that launched outside of Turn 1, and there were three or four cars going wide in Turn 1,” Fernando continued. ‘I would love to talk about those cars as we talked in Sochi.
“Obviously, the answers are always very constructive and very positive because we all want to race as fair as possible. We try to address all the problems because sometimes it’s not only the drivers’ input of the race itself it’s just the nature of the circuit.
“In Sochi, you will always have more problems than Silverstone or different circuits. We try to work together for a better solution so let’s see.
“It’s just trying to race fair and put a good show for the people in the grandstands and on TV. We have a lot of fans around the world, and we saw at the race in Austin how fantastic it was to witness the grandstands full of people, et cetera. So you try to put on a fair show for everybody.”
Do you think Alonso is right to keep challenging the FIA about track limits?
