Fernando Alonso has never been short on drama, but even he seemed amused by what happened during his spirited charge in Sunday’s Qatar Grand Prix.
After whipping his Aston Martin through a full 360-degree spin during the race, the two-time world champion insisted the culprit wasn’t over-driving or misjudgment – no, it was something far more supernatural.
“No, I was taking it easy. The truth is that I wasn’t pushing 100%, but this car has disconnections, I don’t know what to call them, a bit paranormal, there’s a spirit inside the car,” he said with a grin in the TV pen after the race.
Alonso had been running comfortably inside the top six after starting eighth, only for his AMR25 to snap at Turn 10 and pitch him into a balletic rotation that cost him two positions.
He eventually recovered to finish seventh, banking solid points on a weekend when Aston Martin desperately needed them.
The Spaniard explained that the episode didn’t come out of nowhere - his green machine had been playing tricks on him all weekend.
“Yesterday, I suddenly lost the front end for three or four corners,” he explained. “In one of them, I suddenly went off onto the gravel, turning the steering wheel to the max. It was as if I had no front wheels…”
©Aston Martin
“And today it was the rear wheels, suddenly a lash, so we’re hypersensitive to the wind, hypersensitive to one or two degrees of temperature, we’re always on a knife edge and today I made that mistake, but fortunately I was very lucky that there was no gravel, that there was nothing and that I didn’t have a train of cars behind me. There were only two at the time.”
Even with the spin, Alonso sounded surprisingly upbeat. The AMR25 may be “hypersensitive,” but it still delivered.
“Definitely lucky with the spin,” he told written media later in the day. “Any other circuit, maybe I'd finish on the gravel.
“Two points yesterday, six today, eight in total in the Qatar weekend. That definitely is exceeding our expectations. Really, really happy for the team. A crucial moment in the constructors' championship.
“We can go to Abu Dhabi with a little bit less pressure and less weight on our shoulders.”
Aston Martin remains locked in a tense fight for sixth in the constructors’ standings, trailing Racing Bulls by 12 points. Thanks to Alonso – and perhaps the mysterious “spirit” hitching a ride – the team heads into the season finale with renewed optimism.
Whether the ghost in the machine sticks around is another question entirely.
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