Fernando Alonso: zero to hero…red flag cost win

Fernando Alonso: zero to hero…red flag cost win

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso went from zero to hero in less than seven days. The Spaniard was a surprise at the beginning of the Spanish Grand Prix when he jumped into the lead at the start of the race but shortly after the first cycle of pit stops, he sank like a stone and was eventually lapped. Ferrari responded by announcing the resignation of Aldo Costa in an ongoing internal shuffle at the Italian team. It was a race to forget but a mere seven days later, Alonso was nearly a victor in Monaco.

Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix was a mixed bag of attrition, bungled pit stops, inappropriate comments, frustration, pace, crashes, safety concerns and glamor. As Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel was nursing his tires home for the last 20 laps of the race, Alonso was reeling the German in by measures. Closely on the the Ferrari’s tail was McLaren’s Jenson Button who, on newer tires than Vettel and Alonso, looked poised for a serious chance of challenging for the win.

Let’s all agree that the red flag certainly changed the dynamics of the last few laps. Vettel, Alonso and Button had a very interesting pace differential in the closing laps. If memory serves, Alonso’s tires were 18 laps newer than Vettel’s and button were brand new (before the red flag). Button closed a 17 second gap and Alonso closed a 7 second gap. both were chewing exhaust fumes of Vettel’s and when the red flag came out, the teams were allowed to change tires which effectively scuppered any chance Alonso, or Button for that matter, had on passing Vettel for the win.

Good rule? Bad rule? Certainly the regulations were written without taking the tire delta into account so it’s not a criticism of the FIA I’m leveraging here, just an observation. This is all speculation but Alonso certainly felt it ruined his chance:

“In this race, I think we gained one position with the first Safety Car intervention (by overtaking Jenson Button for second place) and maybe we lost a victory with the last red flag.

“I really think in the last eight or nine laps, the tyres on the Red Bull were struggling a lot – certainly in the last part of the circuit. There was nothing to lose for me. I am not leading the championship. I will try and win the race and if we crash, we crash.”

What do you think? If Alonso got around Vettel (assuming no red flag session), would he have been able to hold Button off? Button had newer tires than Alonso so that may have been a tall order in and of itself. Either way, this is a result Ferrari needed lest they start firing more people in their quest to find the person responsible for making the 150th Italia off the pace.

source article : http://www.formula1blog.com