During the Friday practice sessions, the drivers were trying to navigate their way through the Albert Park street circuit in preparation for the 2024 Australian GP. With the likes of Alex Albon crash his car into the barriers, drivers found it difficult to keep their cars on track. Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso also had a hairy moment coming out of turn 10 during one of his laps. Kicking up a load of gravel on his way back to the track, his off track excursion led to ex-Tennis star Jelena Dokic needing medical attention for her eye.
Ex-WTA world no. 4, Dokic is in attendance during the race weekend in her home-country of Australia. However, the gravel spray from Alonso’s incident led to a pretty nasty moment for the 40-year-old. Luckily, the paramedics were quick to her rescue.
Despite this freak accident, Dokic is adamant that she will attend the remainder of the race weekend. PlanetF1 quoted her as saying, “Amazing and quick work by the paramedic at Mercedes-AMG Lounge. Thank you all that took care of me. I am all good. Ready to watch some more F1.”
Throughout the weekend, the 42-year-old has struggled with taming his AMR24. The two-time world champion elaborated upon the struggles he’s had with the car this weekend claiming it to be more wind-sensitive on this particular circuit leading it to be a handful to control in the faster corners.
Fernando Alonso struggles as Lance Stroll leads Aston Martin into 2024 Australian GP
It’s been a while since Alonso was out-qualified, on pace, by his teammate Lance Stroll. The two Aston Martins were battling out in the top-1o shootout earlier today as Stroll put his Aston Martin ahead of teammate, Alonso in 9th. The Spaniard will start the race from 10th tomorrow with almost half-a-second between himself and Stroll.
While Alonso did acknowledge that the team have fulfilled its objective of getting both the cars into Q3, he labelled the session as “tricky”. His final flying lap was not his best and the #14 driver attributed it to his meeting with the gravel trap on his first run that left him without any confidence to push.
On the other hand, team principal, Mike Krack was happy that the team were able to secure a double-Q3 finish. No matter how tricky the car would’ve been for Alonso to drive, after a sluggish start to the season, it seems as though things are finally coming together for the Silverstone-based team.
