During the Virtual Safety Car that appeared with the abandonment of Carlos Sainz, Alpine took the opportunity to call Alonso to make his second pitstop. However, on the next lap, the Asturian stopped again, which caught the attention of everyone, including the FIA.
The problem could have led to an unsafe release penalty or even race management asking Fernando Alonso to stop immediately. But the Asturian threw the theater to free himself and the team from punishment instantly. Later, the FIA decided to investigate it and finally there was no penalty, but… why?
Before the media, Alonso insisted that the third stop (the second in a row) was due to some vibrations that he noticed in the car, and the team maintained the same speech when he faced the microphones.
This is how the director of the Enstone team, Otmar Szafnauer , spoke, explaining that extra stop and denying that the additional stop was to avoid punishment: “He felt some vibrations and since we were under Virtual Safety Car we thought it was beneficial to put him in and investigate. The vibration He was big enough to feel it and if we had left him out, he wasn’t going to perform at the same level.”
“So it was important at the time, with a fresh set of medium tyres, to get the car right to be able to fight in the middle of the grid.
The interesting thing that Szafnauer revealed was a new system that Alpine has so that the wheel, even if it disengages, does not end up coming loose, which is really dangerous as we have seen in the past.
And that was just what happened, as the FIA revealed when it announced that there was no sanction for Alpine and Alonso. What made the difference and convinced the highest body is that the tire did not come off completely, nor did it happen as soon as the stop was made, but rather after turn 3.
“We have a wheel mechanism where once they’re tight, they’re tight, they don’t come off,” Otmar defended. “It’s something new for us, the FIA approved it. [Ex-McLaren, now FIA] Tim Goss knows exactly how it works, and once the wheel is on it can’t come off unless you take it off.”
Fernando Alonso, Alpine A522, Sebastian Vettel, Aston Martin AMR22
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Foto de: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
George Russell, Mercedes W13, Fernando Alonso, Alpine A522
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Foto de: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
Mick Schumacher, Haas VF-22, Lando Norris, McLaren MCL36, Fernando Alonso, Alpine A522
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Foto de: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
Kevin Magnussen, Haas VF-22, Fernando Alonso, Alpine A522, Lando Norris, McLaren MCL36
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Foto de: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
Fernando Alonso, Alpine A522, Esteban Ocon, Alpine A522
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Photo by: Zak Mauger/Motorsport Images
Fernando Alonso, Alpine A522
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Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images
Fernando Alonso, Alpine A522
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Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images
Fernando Alonso, Alpine A522
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Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images
Kevin Magnussen, Haas VF-22, Fernando Alonso, Alpine A522, Zhou Guanyu, Alfa Romeo C42, Lando Norris, McLaren MCL36, Mick Schumacher, Haas VF-22
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Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Kevin Magnussen, Haas VF-22, Lando Norris, McLaren MCL36, Fernando Alonso, Alpine A522
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Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Nicholas Latifi, Williams FW44, Fernando Alonso, Alpine A522
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Foto de: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images
Nicholas Latifi, Williams FW44, Fernando Alonso, Alpine A522, Sebastian Vettel, Aston Martin AMR22
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Photo by: Zak Mauger/Motorsport Images
Zhou Guanyu, Alfa Romeo C42, Nicholas Latifi, Williams FW44, Fernando Alonso, Alpine A522
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Foto de: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images
When Motorsport.com, buying his speech, asked him what was generating that vibration that the driver and team were talking about, he supported the decision to change all four tyres, not just the one that had failed: “I still don’t know what was causing the vibration. But we came in, took a look and had a new media set, which was fine, and we switched to the new media set, it came out of the pits and the vibration went away. I don’t know what it was.”
Although Alpine’s tire system ended up tipping the balance in favor of no sanction, Alonso also played a key role in deciding for himself to make that third stop: “I don’t know why the FIA studied it, maybe because we entered twice in two laps. But the only discussion was that Fernando [Alonso] had a vibration, and because of the Virtual Safety Car, the risk of losing time was minimal.”
“He said ‘box’ himself, because the vibration was strong, and when he entered the pitlane I think he told us like ‘left corner’. So we had an idea of what we were looking at.
And he insists that, although a loose tire is a big penalty, it could not be the case: “With a loose wheel, yes, but our wheel cannot be loose.”
However, Szafnauer does not admit that Alonso avoided the penalty by radio: “No, I don’t think Fernando took that into account. He just felt the vibration, said ‘box’ and gave us a clue where to look.”
And when asked if it was another example of Alonso’s incredible intelligence, he replied: “I’m not so sure, because when we talked to him afterwards, I don’t think he knew the rule.”
Even so, in Alpine they remember other recent cases where, after an accident, one or more wheels were loose and allowed to roll: “I think it was at Silverstone when we had an accident on the first lap in which a group of drivers returned to the pits without Some wheels. What I want to say is that it happened a race ago, and there are a lot of tests in which the pilot arrives with a hanging or loose wheel and returns to the pits”.
As an anecdote, on Twitter the team posted live “a problem in the previous stop” by Alonso, which they later denied before the microphones. And it’s still posted…
Be that as it may, between the ‘theater’, Alonso’s great tactics and Alpine’s innovative system, in the end there was no sanction and the Spaniard added a point for tenth place, which also leaves him tenth in the world championship, 17 points behind by Valtteri Bottas and 7 ahead of Kevin Magnussen.
