Brad Pitt continued filming for his upcoming movie titled ‘F1’ at the recently concluded Hungarian GP weekend, but it ended up affecting Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard was seen fuming in the paddock post-qualifying, and it was all down to the FIA making a blunder.
When Yuki Tsunoda’s crash in Q3 brought out the red flag, there were just over two minutes left on the clock. Alonso was coming back to the pit lane, seemingly to fit in new tires and regroup for one final push lap. But upon entry, an FIA official waved towards him to park behind another car.
Here’s the full Alonso’s onboard footage:
He arrives to pit-lane (with Stroll), he gets stopped in a fake-parc ferme, behind APEX GP’s car.
His mechanics realize it was mistake and come fast to fasten his seat-belt.pic.twitter.com/zZe7Bpq3EY
— Sergio Rodríguez ✍️ (@sergiorf97) July 23, 2024
It turned out to be an APX GP car on the pit lane, which was kept because of filming. The FIA officials thought Alonso’s car was an APX GP challenger, which is why they asked him to pull up. A confused Alonso complied, but when he also saw his teammate Lance Stroll next to him, he understood what had happened.
Journalist Sergio Rodriguez wrote on X, “The FIA mistook the car for APEX, the Brad Pitt movie. And sent Alonso to parc fermé, ending his session there although it was later resumed.”
Now I understand and perfectly share Alonso’s anger on Saturday.
The FIA mistook the car for APEX, the Brad Pitt movie, and sent Alonso to parc fermé, ending his session there although it was later resumed. Incredible
— Sergio Rodríguez ✍️ (@sergiorf97) July 23, 2024
Alonso’s mechanics came rushing to the incident to fasten his seatbelt and send him out again. But by then, it was too late. Q3 had resumed and Alonso did not have enough time to complete an out-lap and push for one final run.
Pas content Fernando de la gestion du drapeau rouge et du parc fermé après le crash de Tsunoda en Q3..et il l’a fait savoir…#rtbfsport #F1 #HungarianGP pic.twitter.com/R9HvoqFryR
— VIGNERON GAETAN (@VIGNERONGAETAN) July 21, 2024
Alonso was livid, and he threw his gloves and overalls on the tarmac next to the FIA official. The latter seemed apologetic and picked it up for him. Unfortunately for Alonso, it didn’t help his weekend. Alonso started the race from P7 and only managed to finish 11th to end a rather underwhelming weekend.
