There are especially smart pilots who are always looking for a way to make a profit. Fernando Alonso has always been one of them and in Sochi he demonstrated it again with a ‘rogue’ worthy of praise.
Fernando Alonso he has a lot of experience, that is something we are not discovering. But, in addition, he has a quality that is not seen in all pilots and that is his obsession with finding performance in each of the aspects of the competition.
That translates into looking for the best physical and technical preparation, but also in a meticulous study of the circuits and the possibilities they offer. In Sochi, on the occasion of the celebration of Russian Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso again found a really surprising gap of advantage. And without breaking the regulations.
Background
Throughout the 2021 season, there have been many occasions in which various drivers have gained an advantage by skipping a corner on the first lap, usually the first corner.
Intentionally or not, some gained advantage by using the loophole, which provoked the complaints of Fernando Alonso on several occasions, as he considered it unfair that the race direction and the sports commissioners allowed it while he tried to stay on the track.
“This path aims to slow down the pilot who has gone off the track to prevent him from taking advantage, but in Sochi that is not the case”
That carries risksBecause you have to fight for position with the rest of the pilots and, in addition to having limitations when accelerating or looking for a gap, you are at the mercy of a potential accident caused by another pilot.
In Russia, Fernando Alonso decided to use the permissiveness of Michael Masi and his team for his own benefit.
What the regulation says
At this point, there are two things to consider.
The first thing is what is written in the regulation, which specifies that in the curves in which there is a path back to the track marked for pilots who run away, they must use it to avoid being penalized. This path aims to slow down the pilot who has gone off the track to prevent him from taking advantage, but in Sochi that is not the case.
Additionally, there is a rule agreed between Michael Masi and the pilots that determines that, when one of them goes off the track, must rejoin the same behind the pilot who preceded him before leaving it.
Fernando Alonso fulfilled both premises in his maneuver, for which he was not sanctioned.
What Alonso did
With all this in mind, Fernando Alonso decided that in Sochi he was going to stop playing by other rules, entering the game of take advantage of the regulations and the permissiveness of the commissioners for your own benefit.
Karun Chandhock (former Sky F1 driver and commentator) revealed that Fernando Alonso had practiced the maneuver he had in mind during the exit lap from the pits to get onto the grid, skipping Turn 2 and rejoining the track after following the outer path that leads to Turn 3.
Once the Grand Prix started, Alonso knew that taking the outside of the track he could repeat the maneuver, thus speeding up the braking and escaping from traffic jams or touches with other pilots.
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Said and done, when he came to the stop at Turn 2, Alonso took the outside of it and continued along the loophole in the direction of the path set by the FIA to rejoin. Once on the track, he made sure to stay behind the driver ahead of him as he pulled out of Turn 2: George Russell.
In that way, Alonso placed fourth without risk of accident, perfectly executing his plan. A plan that, unfortunately, soon came to nothing, as Lance Stroll first and Daniel Ricciardo later overtook it on that very first lap.
Genius in any case. And a wake-up call to the FIA, which should begin to consider whether it allows pilots to take this type of ‘freedom’ when competing with a regulation conducive to this type of great tricks.
For its part, How did Alonso explain the maneuver? Stating that he had to dodge Russell to avoid crashing. We accept octopus as a pet, Fernando;)