Fernando Alonso allegedly used to have a frequency scanner fitted in his car to get better starts than his rivals during F1 races.
Alonso is one of F1’s greatest-ever drivers. His best-ever stint in F1 was when he was with Renault, a team with whom he won two World Championships. After spending time with McLaren and even Ferrari, the Spaniard returned to the Enstone-based outfit (now known as Alpine) in 2021.
Alonso is one of the best starters in an F1 race. His race starts have been near-perfect in most cases throughout his career. However, there was a time when they were considered to be too good even by his standards. This happened when he was at Renault.
A podcast session with former McLaren mechanic Marc Priestley gave a possible reason why he was so good. Priestley admitted that Alonso overtaking 5-6 cars at the start of a race surprised some of the sharpest minds in the sport. This was until some people alleged that Alonso was using unfair means to get a jump on his rivals.
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Fernando Alonso used a button that automatically launched his car
Priestley is a former mechanic in F1 who worked with Fernando Alonso during his time at McLaren. He was sharing stories of technologies that were banned from the sport when he recalled something the 2-time World Champion reportedly used.
At the start of an F1 race, the race director presses a button that signals the race start. Between him pressing the button and the lights going out, there is a slight delay which was always random, so that no one got a head start over others. Alonso apparently had a scanner installed in his car.
He’s pretty good at these race starts, isn’t he? 🚀@alo_oficial absolutely aces it at lights out in the F1 Sprint #BritishGP 🇬🇧 #F1 pic.twitter.com/RpA4JnDr1v
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 17, 2021
This scanner was scanning frequencies. It was done so that the frequency between the race director’s button and the lights could be read. Alonso’s Renault was tuned to a signal, which automatically launched the car as soon as the lights went out! This is a theory that has never been proved in F1, but is definitely something the FIA won’t appreciate.
Priestley, however, is completely determined that Alonso did use this to get better starts.
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