Sunday, November 3, 2024, 9:25 p.m.
Fernando Alonso had a challenging day at Interlagos, in which he had to deal with the aftermath of an accident suffered in qualifying. After the crash, the Aston Martin team was forced to change several components of the car, which affected the car’s performance during the race. “We had to change some components after the accident in qualifying, which made the car a little slower,” he explained after the test.
Adding to the initial difficulties was a problem with the brakes after the restart, as well as an uncomfortable bounce of the car at the end of the day. «In the second half of the race, the car bounced a lot; In other circumstances, I would have stopped,” commented the Asturian pilot, who finally chose to complete the test.
He did it as an act of gratitude to his mechanics, who worked hard to repair his car after the accident. “The mechanics did an incredible job after the accident, so I finished the race for them,” said the two-time world champion.
This difficult weekend puts an end to the triplet of races before the end, and Alonso is aware that there is still a lot of work ahead. «This triple weekend has not been easy for us, and we have another one ahead of us. We need to regroup and find some more performance,” concluded the Aston Martin driver.
Sainz, desperate
After winning in one of his most complete weekends in Mexico, Carlos Sainz lived a nightmare Sunday. He softened it by saying that it was “a bad Sunday, from qualifying to the race, starting from pit lane”, but that’s an understatement.
The Ferrari driver from Madrid admitted that, although he was not good, the SF24 is very complicated in rainy conditions. «I have made two mistakes, which is not ideal, and I am sorry for the entire team. At the same time, today in the wet and throughout the year the car has been very difficult to drive and we have to understand why, because it has cost us a couple of races,” recalled the next Williams driver.
The Spaniard also lamented the extra work his performance meant for the team on an already demanding day. “I’m sorry for giving the team extra work on an already super long day,” he commented, aware of the additional effort his mechanics and technicians had to put in.
Despite a tough Sunday, Sainz seeks to remain calm and focus on the upcoming events. “I tried to take risks to gain positions and obviously it didn’t go well,” he acknowledged. Now, the Spanish driver prefers to turn the page and face the next Grand Prix in Las Vegas with optimism. “It’s a difficult Sunday to digest, but we will turn the page and restart everything for Las Vegas,” he concluded.
