Alonso fires reality check as FIA rolls out regulation changes in Miami

Ahead of the race weekend in Florida, the FIA announced multiple changes to the regulations, which range from reduced recharge in qualifying, increased super-clipping power, a boost cap of +150 kW, and aids to slow race starts. The changes were largely aimed at improving the overall racing and qualifying spectacle witnessed through the first three races of the campaign. However, Alonso, who was quizzed about the potential impact of the changes on track, offered a largely sceptical and pessimistic response.

Speaking to GPblog and other media at the Miami Grand Prix media day, the Aston Martin driver said: “Let’s wait and see. I think on the regulation change, let’s wait and see. I don’t think that it will completely change what we saw in the first three races, to be honest. This power unit and these regulations will always reward going slower in the corners, because you have more energy. So the small tweaks can improve a little bit the clipping, which, again, I’m not sure. If we go back to Suzuka, where I spoke with the team and we race with the current rules, we will have more clipping than what we had in Suzuka, so it’s a little bit contradictory what I read in the last few weeks and what I heard today.”

The two-time world champion doubled down on his cautious stance, stressing that a clearer assessment will only come once he gets behind the wheel. “That’s why I need to see on track how it feels for us in particular.”

Pressing further on how this break and timing could impact power unit manufacturer Honda, Alonso continued: “I think with Honda, the more time we have and the more, you know, experiments we do, I think it will help the team. We have some fixes here on the reliability and on the vibrations. We don’t have any on the performance yet, so hopefully we can feel fewer vibrations on the steering wheel and in the cockpit and have a better race.”

While Alonso was largely measured with his response to the tweaks made by the FIA, teammate Lance Stroll was far more direct, pulling no punches on his thoughts about the regulation. The Canadian driver equated the current regulations to the destruction of racing.

Stroll highlighted how he misses driving F1 cars from previous generations, before expressing little optimism about the changes made by the FIA ahead of the commencement of on-track action in Miami.

Want to stay up to date with the latest events from the F1 paddock? GPblog’s Paddock Update is the place to be.

Follow and subscribe to our channels on Spotify and YouTube so you don’t miss a scoop as the actions and reactions continue across the Formula 1 scene.

Check out the latest episode of our Paddock Update here 👇