The Qatar GP race weekend had no shortage of drama during any of the sessions. Following Lewis Hamilton’s DNF in the first lap of the feature race, another incident took place during Lap 33 of the race involving Fernando Alonso and Charles Leclerc. Having gone off the track at Turn 2, Alonso made his way to the exit road and rejoined the race with his foot flat out on the accelerator, mere meters ahead of Leclerc. The race stewards deemed the maneuver “unsafe” but took no further steps to penalize the Spaniard.
Speaking to the media after the race, Ferrari Team Principal Fred Vasseur questioned Alonso’s attitude and commented if Alonso were in Leclerc’s place, he wouldn’t be reacting the same way. In the end, Alonso finished behind Leclerc in P6 despite almost taking the P5 finisher out of the race.
Fernando Alonso called out for his actions during the Qatar GP
The Qatar GP stood as one of the most challenging races for the drivers, given the intense physicality of the race. To add fuel to the fire for Alonso and Leclerc, the 42-year-old driver momentarily lost control of his car on Turn 2 of Lap 33, which took him off the track, onto the gravel trap, and then to the exit road. While Leclerc exited Turn 3, Alonso leaped in front of him at full speed as he came out of the exit road. Addressing the incident, SoyMotor quotes Vasseur as being furious with Alonso, especially since he knows things would’ve been very different if the roles were reversed.
“If it had been the other way around, I think Fernando would have been more than eloquent on the radio, that his life had been ‘really on the limit’ and such.”
By doing so, Alonso almost risked a collision with Leclerc that could’ve led to both drivers not finishing the race and potentially injuring themselves. However, the race stewards only deemed the reentry “unsafe” and took no further actions over it. Addressing the incident, Leclerc showed much more composure as he said while it was extremely risky of Alonso to enter the track in that manner, he probably did so because Alonso could not see Leclerc because of the distance between the two.
Alonso not too concerned over his near-fatal mistake
Talking about the incident, Alonso did not show much care for it as his primary concern was earning a finish in the points. Despite agreeing to making a mistake, Alonso pointed out losing positions to George Russell and Leclerc as he finished the race in P6. After a difficult last few races where his best finish came as a P9 in Japan, Alonso said he was happy to see his team climb up the ladder and earn a P6 finish.
However, not being able to do more in the race upset the Asturian, given he went as high as P3 during the race. Meanwhile, it was another subpar performance by Lance Stroll who finished outside the points for the fourth consecutive time. Nonetheless, Alonso took his P6 finish positively and hopes his team can put in strong performances as the season approaches its end.
