FERNANDO ALONSO

Fernando Alonso: “Formula 1 is unpredictable — even if you lead the championship”

Going into the final race of the season, three drivers still remain in mathematical contention for the championship — a situation last seen in 2010. During Thursday's media session at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso was asked whether he could make any predictions ahead of such a tense finale, Alonso said:

“if the McLaren is a little bit faster this weekend, they will have everything” Fernando Alonso

“I don't know, the prediction is difficult. Always you think that the leading guy has an advantage because he has some margin in terms of results and you can take it a little bit easier, but Formula 1 is unpredictable and it was a safety car back in 2010 that it was the wrong choice to not take it.

“It was a safety car last week, it was a wrong choice as well not to take it, but these things can happen in a Formula 1 race, so it's not guaranteed even if you are leading the championship.”

With his experience of championship-deciding races, Alonso was also asked whether mind games between title contenders become a factor at this stage:

“Yes, always a little bit of games, when you see your opponents on track, FP1, FP2, media comments from today. You try to put the pressure on the other side, you meet on the driver' s briefing, there is a different body language for sure for the three of them. At the end of the day, as I said before, when you close the visor and you drive, if the McLaren is a little bit faster this weekend, they will have everything

“if the McLaren is a little bit faster this weekend, they will have everything” Fernando Alonso

Fernando Alonso: “Formula 1 is unpredictable — even if you lead the championship”

Going into the final race of the season, three drivers still remain in mathematical contention for the championship — a situation last seen in 2010. During Thursday's media session at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso was asked whether he could make any predictions ahead of such a tense finale, Alonso said:

to win it, if the Red Bull is faster there is then a good chance for Max, so again, it's all down to the car performance, eventually.”

There was another question whether drivers outside the championship battle could still play a role in the outcome:

“No, not at all, because at the end we are fighting for our own goals and the tricky thing is that sometimes you fight for your own P7 or P10 or something like that. And then your race is not against maybe someone that had pitted and then you cannot lose too much time, so that could be seen with something that you are helping the guy that just stopped. I don't think that we will be even in that case, we are not

that close to them, but for people like Mercedes or Ferrari or whatever, they could be a potential factor so that's more tricky for sure, but I think no one wants to be close to those three cars, you don't want to be on the news.”

But when Alonso was asked whether there had been Formula 1 champions who were not necessarily the best drivers of the season. The two-time world champion answered with irony:

“This has been happening for the last 19 years now, so it will be

the 20th.”

Alonso won his second Formula 1 title back in 2006 — and with that remark, he clearly made a humorous reference to himself.

The final part of the conversation shifted to Aston Martin’s challenging year and looking ahead to the future: “Yeah, I think we are happy to say bye-bye to this year and obviously, we' ve been not as fast as we were hoping, the 24 was a tough and challenging season and the 25 was just the big brother of that 24. So we are struggling and we don 't hide from that. It's the last race, we want to finish in the best possible position and help the team on the Constructors' Championship, but looking forward to next year for sure.” ❙❘

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