Fernando Alonso has opened up on the again ache, feelings and thriller brake issues that he battled to tug his Aston Martin to the end within the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The Spaniard had been struggling all through final weekend with the brand new bumpy Interlagos floor, however issues reached a peak within the race because the repeated impacts have been felt in his backbone.
However regardless of the ache, a removed from aggressive automotive that had been repaired after his qualifying crash, plus brake points that saved making an attempt to pitch him off the observe, he stated there was no approach he was going to easily surrender.
Through the race, Alonso got here on the workforce radio to inform his workforce why he didn’t need to retire the automotive.
“I’ll end the race for the mechanics,” he stated. “They did an excellent job immediately. However my again is hurting, man. This bouncing just isn’t regular.”
After being consoled and hugged by a mechanic as he gingerly received out of his automotive after the race, Alonso defined that his scenario had been getting worse and worse – however at no level was he able to retire.
“There was quite a lot of bouncing, quite a lot of porpoising within the second half of the race,” he stated. “I do not know why, but it surely was a tricky race. We have been out of the factors.
“I believe in some other circumstances, in all probability I might have stopped. However the mechanics did an unbelievable job earlier than the race to place the automotive prepared on the grid, so I needed to end it for them.”
Alonso stated he had been conscious earlier than of the challenges his again would face within the race. And that was on prime of the opposite difficulty of an intestinal an infection that had prompted a visit again to Europe after Mexico and his late arrival in Brazil.
“It was painful, for positive. The lead-up to this race, it was quite a lot of preparation from my aspect, quite a lot of checks, quite a lot of work, quite a lot of physio and docs as a way to come right here in Brazil,” he stated.
“So it was quite a lot of effort from everyone: the identical effort because the mechanics put immediately.
“It was not snug within the automotive. However there are individuals worse than me, additionally in Valencia, we’ve got these horrible photos. And other people struggling. So I needed to battle a few laps for everyone.”
Brake difficulty
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin AMR24
Photograph by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Photos
In addition to battling the ache barrier, Alonso additionally needed to overcome large challenges in staying on observe within the race – together with his Aston Martin automotive affected by brake issues.
In what seems to have been a repeat phenomenon to what pitched Lance Stroll off on the formation lap, Alonso stated the rears saved locking after the restarts.
“I believe Lance had the brake downside within the formation lap, and I had the brake difficulty after all of the restarts, the place all of the brake stability goes fully rearwards,” he stated. “It was like braking with a hand brake.
“So all in all it was a nightmare on the market. We have to get higher for the following three.”
Stroll, who compounded his formation lap spin into the barrier at Flip 4 by getting beached in a gravel entice that he tried to get throughout at low velocity, stated there was no fast clarification for the brake difficulty.
“Yeah unusual,” he stated. “As quickly as I touched the brakes, I simply had an enormous rear lock, after which I used to be a passenger from there.
“I by no means felt that within the automotive [before]. So perhaps there was a brake failure downside. Now we have to look into it.”
The brake difficulty throughout each automobiles may very well be a consequence of the workforce’s brake mapping for moist restarts, geared toward warming the rear tyres by shifting the stability backwards, not resetting.