Following the conclusion of the 2010 championship, a section of journalists critiqued Ayao Komatsu for his role in preventing Fernando Alonso from claiming his third F1 championship. It might sound crazy given Alonso was a Ferrari driver back then and Komatsu worked for Renault, but it’s true. Now, coming into 2024, the Haas team principal opened up about the uncomfortable incident he faced years ago and revealed it was not his “problem.”
After not getting to fight for the championship for two seasons Alonso moved to Ferrari at the end of 2009, leaving Renault where he had won both of his world championships. However, he had ample following that wanted him to win titles, even in other teams. But he failed, courtesy of Vitaly Petrov and his race engineer Komatsu in 2010.
In the 2010 title decider in Abu Dhabi, Alonso was one of the front runners to claim the title. However, after getting into a tire strategy battle with Mark Webber, the Spaniard ended up behind Petrov’s Renault. The French team and Komatsu had got their driver in a solid position in P6 which halted Alonso’s progress and he could not pass the Russian driver, stuck in P7.
Komatsu gave his thoughts about this strategy call, that had a butterfly effect on the championship battle, on the recent Beyond The Grid podcast episode, “To be honest I didn’t care you know because I was Vitaly [Petrov]’s race engineer, we were doing our own race, it’s up to Ferrari to do their race, and if they didn’t pit Fernando at the right time and got stuck behind us, it’s not my problem,”.
It was quite poetic that his old team inadvertently sabotaged the two-time champion’s bid for his 3rd championship. Alonso lost the championship that year against Sebastian Vettel by just four points, after Petrov kept the former at bay for over 40 laps, which many of Alonso’s fans did not take in the best taste.
As Komatsu faced the unwanted ‘hate’ following the final race, he stood his ground and looked undeterred.
“It’s not my problem, I worked for [the] Renault F1 team and I work for the best interest of the team, my driver Vitaly, what happens with Ferrari and Fernando is not my problem,” further added the Japanese engineer in the interview.
Fernando Alonso and his missed F1 titles
Fernando Alonso marked his presence in Formula 1’s illustrious history with back-to-back title wins in 2005 and 2006. Following this, he only came close, very close in fact, but failed to convert them into ultimate wins. In a nutshell, Alonso ended as a runner-up in the championship thrice in 2007, 2010, and 2012, or else as many believe the #14 driver would have been a 5-time champion!
The Spanish driver moved to McLaren in 2007 despite winning two titles with Renault. He came up against a rookie Lewis Hamilton, who gave the former a run for his money. After a year of fierce competition, Alonso missed out on the title by a solitary point.
The 42-year-old was a Ferrari driver when he lost out against Vettel in 2010. Alonso switched to the Italian team after Renault failed to provide him with a race-winning car. However, his Ferrari stint didn’t work as his championship dream was shattered due to a miscalculated strategy by the Prancing Horse.
The two-time world champion’s last chance to win the championship came in 2012, that too against Vettel. Unfortunately, the Spaniard lost out here as well after the rain-soaked race in Brazil went in the German former driver’s favor.
Alonso’s failure to win the race and Vettel’s brilliant recovery cost the former the title by just three points! From there till 2023, he has no longer been a championship protagonist. But his performance from last year surely revived the hunger for title wins in the future.
