Fernando Alonso Refuses To Blame Aston Martin for Robbing Potential 33rd Victory

Despite Max Verstappen taking home an easy win in the recently concluded Monaco Grand Prix, it could have been Fernando Alonso in place of him. However, due to a strategic blunder of Aston Martin, the Spaniard lost the chance to win his 33rd F1 race. Nevertheless, Alonso is completely reluctant to blame the team for this.

Alonso, who started the race from P2 behind Verstappen, had a good chance of taking the lead into turn 1. However, it was not possible as he had a slight disadvantage due to the hard tyre compound fitted on his car as compared to the medium compound on the Dutchman’s RB19.

Despite this, the Asturian had a chance to close in after the arrival of rain. With rain coming in and the Red Bull driver deciding to opt out of pitting for wet tyres, it was an ideal situation for the Aston Martin driver to catch Verstappen.

However, Alonso and Aston Martin only had themselves to blame as they decided to go for mediums in the rain at first, and then made the 41-year-old pit for inters again. In total, he pitted twice as compared to the defending champions’ one perfectly timed stop.

Fernando Alonso declines to blame his team

Having understood that there could have been a chance to pick his 33rd career win, Alonso seemed disappointed initially. However, the Spaniard did not blame his team for costing him a hugely anticipated victory.

Speaking about it in the F1 Chequered Flag podcast, the 41-year-old said, “I don’t know. I think if we had the crystal ball, and we knew everything, may we do things differently.”

Another podium! P2 🏆 in Monaco!!!!
So happy after a difficult race, specially with the rain at the end!
Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you 💚💚@AstonMartinF1 !!! pic.twitter.com/HQ4AJa26Jw

— Fernando Alonso (@alo_oficial) May 28, 2023

“But I think we had a free stop at that time, you know, so we could stop for dries and see how the situation eventually if it rains heavier to stop for Inters, and that’s what we did,” concluded Alonso.

The two-time world champion also mentioned that he didn’t like the negativity that has been going on against Aston Martin after Monaco GP.

Aston Martin accepted the blame for Alonso’s defeat

The British team accepted that they could have won the race if the strategy went their way. Admittedly, Verstappen’s decision to stay out for longer in the latter half of the rain cost him over 20 seconds in lap time.

The Silverstone-based team, failing to take advantage of the situation, had to pit Alonso twice in quick succession. As a result, the Oviedo-born driver could not capitalize on Red Bull and Verstappen’s initial error.

Speaking on this, team principal Mike Krack said as per The Race that choosing the right compound could have brought Fernando Alonso ahead of Max Verstappen, but that wouldn’t have guaranteed a win.