Luck is not on Fernando Alonso’s side, as suffered his fourth F1 Mexico City GP DNF in succession. After suffering minor damage to his front wing brake issues appeared, forcing him to retire in lap 34.
Unable to manage brakes
“I think the front wing [contact] was at the start,” Alonso reflected on his race after the F1 Mexico City GP. “But it was not really causing any problem. I don’t think the car was a different performance because of the front wing, so I think it was a minor damage.
“So no issues there, but the brakes were a little bit out of temperature, always in traffic, we could not really manage much. At the end I think the pedal went long, and 40 laps ahead was impossible.”
Failing to finish the last 4 Grands Prix in Mexico City, although classified as 19th in 2022, meant Alonso didn’t feel Lady Luck was on his side.
“Luck is not definitely with me,” the Aston Martin driver admitted. “I don’t know what can I do with the brakes. It’s different, you know, then on the engine with Alpine in 2022. I think, I was 6th or 7th in the race, engine problems. So I don’t know what can I do there either, so waiting for better opportunities and more luck.
Alonso rues corner cutting at start
The two-time world champion was critical of his colleagues, who cut the first series of corners at the start of the race. Following the long straight in Mexico City, the first corner is always a challenge after the start. This year however, too many people cut the corners, according to Alonso.
“I made two places at the start, but then I lost four places by doing the track,” Alonso explained. “There were people just missing turn 2, turn 3, flat out, and then they appeared like three places in front of me. We were parallel into the corner and there were four places in front of me, and the exit of turn 3. I thought that maybe some action was coming, but like in Austin, going off track in turn 1 is not a problem.”
The positions lost didn’t matter in the end however, as the car was neither competitve, nor reliable, resulting in yet another Alonso DNF in the Mexico City GP.
“It didn’t change much, I think for us today we were not very competitive, but it was a shame.”
