GP Sao PauloThe hit on Alonso that F1 didn't show and that cost him points in Interlagos
The Spaniard dropped from eighth to 15th position in three laps after the contact. The lack of top speed from Honda made the comeback a much more difficult task.
Aston Martin found one of its best opportunities of the season in Interlagos. The wet conditions allowed the AMR26 to exploit its strengths in corners and Fernando Alonso managed to qualify eighth, a position that allowed him to aim for a top ten finish.
The Asturian had reasons to trust in his chances. For much of the race, he demonstrated that he could compete with theoretically superior cars, including Ferraris and Mercedes. However, an incident with Oliver Bearman in the early stages completely changed his prospects.
The international broadcast of Formula 1 did not clearly show what happened. Images subsequently released by DAZN show how the Haas driver lost control of his car in corner 3 and forced Alonso to perform an evasive maneuver that ended with both cars making contact.
Bearman caused a drop of seven positions that Alonso struggled to recover
Alonso had managed to maintain the eighth position at the start, but found Bearman's Haas crossing in front of him. The Spaniard could not avoid the contact and had to momentarily leave the racing line to dodge it.
The consequence was immediate: he finished the first lap in 12th position, dropped to 14th in the second and reached 15th in the third. In just three laps, he had lost seven positions compared to his starting position.
Recovering that ground was not going to be easy. The Aston Martin had very competitive behavior in the twisty sections, but was still suffering from the main problem of the whole season: the lack of power and top speed of the Honda power unit.
Alonso himself explained after the race that the car worked especially well in corners but struggled a lot when it came to accelerating. "Considering what we lose on the straights, we could have gone a second faster per lap than the Mercedes,” he pointed out.
This circumstance particularly affected his recovery. To regain positions, Alonso needed to overtake, but the straight-line speed deficit prevented him from completing many maneuvers easily. It wasn't enough to be faster in corners if he couldn't capitalize on that advantage to pass his rivals afterwards.
Still, he managed to progress. On the seventh lap, he passed Carlos Sainz and, three laps later, he overtook Lewis Hamilton around the outside of corner 6. This allowed him to recover ground to position himself 13th, although he was still far from the eighth position he had initially occupied.
The lack of Honda power ultimately affected the result
From then on, Alonso's race became an exercise in recovery, with the time lost at the beginning affecting his chances of reaching the points zone. On lap 17, he entered the pits to change to soft tires and returned to the track in 12th place.
Minutes later, he passed Alexander Albon on lap 34, but Charles Leclerc managed to get by him. After another stop on lap 46, Alonso lost positions again and had to keep looking for a way to get closer to the top 10.
The rain returned in the final segment and the Aston Martin driver switched to intermediate tires on lap 60. The Spaniard was then in 12th position, which he could not improve during the final laps. He finished the race a lap behind the winner, Lando Norris.
The result was particularly frustrating due to the distance separating Alonso from the points. Nico Hülkenberg finished 10th with the Audi, while Arvid Lindblad was 11th. The Asturian crossed the finish line nearly 20 seconds after Hülkenberg and stayed two positions away from scoring.
Would Alonso have finished in the top 10 without the incident with Bearman? One thing is clear: he would have had an important chance to achieve it. The contact made him drop from eighth to 15th position and forced him to spend a good part of the race recovering positions that he had brilliantly gained the previous day.
The hit from Bearman did not need to cause a malfunction to seriously harm the Asturian. It cost him positions and time at the worst possible moment, and Honda's limitations did the rest.
* This news is an AI translation of the original content. Motenic.com is part of Motor.es.