Fernando Alonso was the direct protagonist of one of the great controversies of the past Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix 2022. Starting from seventh position, the Asturian managed to maintain that position until the checkered flag, but his race management did not please some of their rivals.
When it came time to switch from wet tires to dry compounds, Alonso was just ahead of Lewis Hamilton and held position after the pit stops. The race was later neutralized due to an accident involving Mick Schumacher and the vast majority of drivers changed tires before the restart in order not to pit again.
The Spanish driver from Alpine attacked Lando Norris in the first few laps in search of sixth place, but once he realized that it was impossible to overtake, he decided to keep his medium tires to avoid problems in the last laps and his pace dropped precipitously.
The difference in performance was such that Alonso fell more than 30 seconds behind the young driver from Woking, splitting the grid in two. At that moment, Hamilton , who was just behind the Asturian, complained on the radio about the gap he was opening with respect to the first six.
After the race, Alonso said that “it’s not my problem” that Hamilton was angry. Alleging that if he was so fast, he could have tried to overtake him on the track, something that he did not achieve and did not seem to try too hard, finishing the grand prix in eighth position.
Due to this, Toto Wolff , director of Mercedes, was visibly disappointed by everything that had happened and explained that the FIA should look at the regulations and turn it around so that a similar scenario does not happen again in the future.
“I think the rules are the rules and there’s nothing we can say. But it’s another lesson that track position is everything in Monaco. I mean, five seconds difference is like a Formula 2 car, it’s something that we have to look.”
Not content with that, the Austrian leader also charged against the design of the famous Monte Carlo circuit, asking for changes, since he considers that it is currently almost impossible to overtake on the track no matter how great the speed difference between two drivers.
“Racing here is a spectacle. It’s a fantastic site. And it’s always an amazing thing to be here, but maybe we should look at the [track] layout as you can be behind a car that is five seconds slower and still not you can overtake it”, concluded the one from Mercedes .
Fernando Alonso, Alpine A522, ahead of Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W13, at the 2022 Monaco GP
