Alonso did it again: he exposed Russell to this ‘old dog’ action

Pilots, engineers and team leaders of F1 paddock consider Fernando Alonso as one of the best drivers ever. And this is not only because of his skill behind the wheel, his insatiable thirst and the immense ambition and desire he continues to possess after more than two decades in the ‘Great Circus’. They always emphasize his privileged mind, which he uses a lot in every race to control everything and be able to squeeze every detail to achieve his goals and maximize his results.

I said Emerson Fittipaldi to MD, “Alonso is a pure careerist.” There are many examples of his ability to drive and at the same time have everything going on in the race in his head. Many call him the ‘pilot-engineer’. And last weekend another example of this was seen in his action at the end of the race, which showed how much George Russell has to learn.

A bad action

George Russell and Fernando Alonso finished the race in a one-stop approach instead of going for the theoretical initial two-stop base strategy. That is, both end up with more damaged tires, and therefore, with less weight due to having less rubber. Russell won the race, but in the end, he was disqualified for not reaching the minimum vehicle weight of one and a half kilos. And there, rubber can have a lot to do with it.

In SpaAs it is a long circuit, there is no lap around the track to return to the pits, but the cars enter the pits directly after turn 1. This means that the drivers cannot collect the rubber chips that are on track on the return to the pit lane, as they do in the remaining races. That’s something everyone does to add weight to their car with reduced rubber before the FIA Check the weight of the car after the race.

At Spa it can only be done on the straight and in the first corner before entering the pits. And Russell, celebrating the victory, forgot such an important detail. Crossing the finish line he continued the usual route down the straight and into Turn 1 and entered the pit lane. And surprisingly, for that reason or not, he was disqualified for not making the minimum weight.

A few moments later he crossed the finish line Fernando Alonso, happy because he managed to save some points that seemed impossible thanks to a dangerous strategy. There, from what the ‘SoyMotor’ portal showed by comparing the Alonso ‘on board’ camerasbefore his engineer told him that he had to collect rubber over the radio, the Asturian, just after crossing the finish line, the first thing he did was turn his steering wheel and go to the right side of the track to collect maximum number of rubber chips possible.

Furthermore, he continued to do so with a line out of Turn 1. Thus, he was able to add weight to his car to compensate for what he might have lost by stopping one less time and breaking the his wheels. Coincidence or not, Fernando Alonso reached the minimum weight.

Probably the main difference is in the weight calculations they made Mercedes and Aston Martin. But every detail is important. And Alonso, unlike Russell, wants to collect the maximum number of chips to avoid problems. He did it again, making it clear that the young Brit still has a lot to learn in terms of maximizing every opportunity and thinking about every detail. Alonso, old dog, is again. Pilot and engineer.

This is key to strategy

In its part, as shown by the ‘CódigoF1’ program on ‘DAZN’ through a compilation of radio communications from the Aston Martin team and Fernando Alonsothe Spaniard was once again crucial in hitting the nail on the head with his racing strategy.

The man from Oviedo saw that the points were getting away from him and asked the team about the possibility of not making a second stop to wait for a possible safety car that would allow him to qualify for the points. Although in the end, as the man from Oviedo explained, he ended up realizing that he could reach the finish line keeping the final ninth position, which became 8th place due to the subsequent disqualification of George Russell.

“I think we were going to finish 13th. And out of desperation, that if you stop again you will finish 13th, we continued with the hard tire to see if there is a ‘Safety Car’ or something that would help us. And with 12 or 13 laps left we thought: ‘Well, even without the ‘Safety Car’, if we push to the end we can still get there and catch some points.’ And in the end we caught them all, the ones that were available. “A nice surprise, but it was an almost desperate decision because we didn’t have any rhythm.”he explained after the race to ‘DAZN’.