Alonso sides with Russell, against Verstappen: 'This can be deadly'
Fernando Alonso
Updated:
1 Comments
A filmmaker with a soft spot for Ronnie Peterson, Gilles Villeneuve, Mika Hakkinen and above all, Tazio Nuvolari and Ayrton Senna, is also a diehard Formula One fan since the age of 4 (mid-90's). An avid researcher of the past of Grand Prix Racing since before it was even named F1, and with a thirst for knowledge of the ins and outs of the actuality of the sport, as well as for the technical aspects that define it, is a member of GPblog since 2023, where he has put his love of racing to good use.
Fernando Alonso does not believe wet weather is possible in F1 anymore, and it's got everything to do with the tyres and the tarmac layed on the circuits in the Formula One calendar.
Speaking to media like GPblog ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix, Alonso spoke about the complicated issues Formula One faces with regards to wet weather racing in light of the much discussed delayed start to the Belgian Grand Prix a week ago.
For him the problems date back to the last regulation change eight years ago. "I think from probably since 2017, with that set of regulations and the wide tyres, the visibility is worse."
'Wet racing can be deadly at Spa'
ADVERTISEMENT
From the perspective of the Aston Martin driver, the issue is not an easy one, particularly in light of the fatalitites that have ocurred in Spa in recent times.
"As we know, we all want to race, but if we are alone, we can race. There is no problem. If you are in a group of cars, you cannot see anything and we had unfortunately too many bad examples, you know, especially in Spa with poor visibility and very big accidents."
"So, we all want to be brave, we all want to be racing and the spectators at home (want to see wet weather racing, ed.), as well, but then when an accident happens, we remember that there is nothing really wrong to wait another half an hour," said Alonso siding with Rui Marques' decision to delay the start of the race in Spa-Francorchamps.
Read also
A matter of the Pirelli tyres and the tarmac on the F1 tracks
ADVERTISEMENT
For Alonso, double time world champion, the issue lies in the more technical aspects of the sport.
"I think the tyres, the wide tires definitely make visibility worse and probably some of the asphalts in the circuits, they are a little bit different than what they've been in the past."
"We raced with a lot of water in Sepang (Malaysian Grand Prix, ed.), in different circuits and it was always okay and now this new generation of asphalt which is very black and very grippy on dry conditions, [but] it's like a mirror in wet conditions."
Read also
Alonso looks at highways to solve visibility issues when racing in the wet in F1
ADVERTISEMENT
Regarding the lack of visibility in wet weather conditions, the Spaniard came up with a startling idea, but like all things in F1, not without its downsides.
"Visibility is not nice, but I don't know what we can do there. Or what the tyres can do in a very rough tarmac."
"I've said many times that the highways, there are some that they have zero spray. So if we implement that tarmac in all the circuits as a normal rule, we will have zero spray."
"Then it will be a huge degradation probably in dry conditions, I don't know, but then we can work from that thing, you know, and have a starting point, but I'm just a driver," Alonso humbly concluded.
Read also
ADVERTISEMENT
Don’t miss GPblog in Google
Mark us as a preferred source and our articles will appear more often at the top of Top Stories.
Add as a preferred / source on Google
