Italian GPThe FIA, pointed out after revealing what broke the suspension of Alonso's Aston Martin in Monza

Fernando Alonso had practically secured a much more positive result than expected in the recent Italian Grand Prix, when the right front suspension of his Aston Martin AMR25 failed after hitting the curb at the exit of the fast Ascari chicane.

The Spanish driver had managed to stay among the top eight with the slowest car on the straight, using Gabriel Bortoleto's DRS and, of course, his overflowing talent behind the wheel. But everything went wrong in a season where misfortune has been hitting Fernando Alonso more than usual.

«The continuous low-level load caused the eventual failure of the part»

The causes of Alonso's suspension break in Monza

After the fourth retirement of the two-time world champion of Formula 1 this season, different theories began to emerge regarding what happened.

One of them was that Aston Martin had decided to use used parts, compromising the strength of the suspension. Mike Krack categorically denied this assumption, stating that safety is always the priority, both for responsibility and pure pragmatism.

And now, just a few days before the start of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on the urban circuit of Baku, Aston Martin has confirmed the origin of the suspension collapse.

«The team can confirm that some gravel hit Fernando's car [Alonso] in multiple areas during the first lap of the race, including his suspension, which compromised it», stated a spokesperson for Aston Martin.

«The team was not aware of the damage suffered. The continuous low-level load caused the eventual failure of the part, they added.

And Aston Martin's official version has been confirmed by our photographer David Moreno, who captured the damage caused by the gravel on one of the suspension arms of Fernando Alonso's car.

In the image that serves as the cover for this article, it is clear that the impact creates a crack in that part, which later gave way when hitting the curb.

The FIA, pointed out

In recent years, the FIA has prioritized safety when managing Formula 1 races. In fact, on many occasions, it has been accused of being excessively cautious with the use of the safety car — whether physical or virtual —.

However, in the Italian Grand Prix, the race direction was quite permissive with the gravel present on the track. In a circuit where almost all escape routes have the mentioned gravel, it is common for cars that partially or completely go off the track to dirty the asphalt.

On several occasions, this became very evident and compromised the safety of the drivers without the race direction doing anything to clean the racing line. And, although no punctures occurred, Fernando Alonso ended up being the most affected due to the mentioned suspension break.

Fortunately, it occurred with the car already in a straight line and we did not have to regret any accidents. If it had happened in the middle of the Ascari chicane, in Parabolica, or in Lesmo, the situation would have been very different.

Fotos: Aston Martin F1