Fernando Alonso, Alpine, Monaco, 2022

“Not my problem” if Hamilton was frustrated behind me – Alonso

2022 Monaco Grand Prix

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Fernando Alonso said he had no difficulty keeping Lewis Hamilton behind him despite running a slow pace at the restart of the Monaco Grand Prix.

The Alpine driver dropped back rapidly after the race resumed following a stoppage caused by Mick Schumacher’s heavy crash at the Swimming Pool section. He lost so much time Lando Norris ahead of him was able to make an extra pit stop, resume ahead of the Alpine, and claim the bonus point for fastest lap.

Meanwhile Hamilton, who had already spent much of the race stuck behind Alonso’s team mate Esteban Ocon,was growing increasingly impatient behind him. “That’s not my problem,” said Alonso.

He said it was necessary to reduce his pace in order to ensure the tyres they had chosen would last until the end of the race.

“We had two choices,” said Alonso. “Repeat the hard tyres from the beginning of the race or put the medium tyre on.

“We put the medium tyres on but our life estimation was shorter than 33 [laps] so we didn’t know if we could finish the race.”

However he increased his pace later on after Ocon was given a penalty for an incident with Hamilton. “I managed a lot the tyres for 15 laps and then I pushed for the remaining 15 when they told me that Esteban had a penalty,” said Alonso.

Until then Alonso said it had been “extremely easy” to maintain his position ahead of the Mercedes around the narrow track.

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Keith Collantine
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48 comments on ““Not my problem” if Hamilton was frustrated behind me – Alonso”

  1. What a sick person who can’t get over his 2007-2008 defeat. Hamilton lives rent free in ur tiny head eh? Driving slowly ruined Ocon chances to score points too.

    1. “However he increased his pace later on after Ocon was given a penalty for an incident with Hamilton. “I managed a lot the tyres for 15 laps and then I pushed for the remaining 15 when they told me that Esteban had a penalty,” said Alonso.

      Until then Alonso said it had been “extremely easy” to maintain his position ahead of the Mercedes around the narrow track.”

    2. Looks like it’s you who can’t move on

      1. Can’t move on from the fact Hamilton beat him in 2007-2008 or the fact Hamilton is a 7 times world champion while Alonso stands at 2? Yeah. It hurts. I know what I’m talking about, this guy hits at Hamilton at any occasion, he is obsessed with him. Talking about his living style and his life outside F1 in a very ugly and negative way, the only guy who is still stuck in 2007 is Alonso, not me.

        1. It’s clearly you who is still bitter about 2007. Alonso has praised Hamilton regularly and recently said he expects Hamilton to eventually get the better of Russell due to Hamilton’s talent. The interviewer said Hamilton was frustrated when Hamilton wasn’t in his post race interview.

        2. 2007? Mate, you’re definitely the one obsessed. You’re the target demographic of credulous fanboys who bought into the manufactured narrative of the media since 2007. Your take is as appalling as it’s revealing

    3. Tiny head? Is that an F1 critique?

      1. Yup tiny head Alonso has, yet ham has been living there rent free all these years… a lot of people are denying this but, alonso since he has been rejected to join ham again (despite he tried to polish a few apples with his nice ham comments some), he supports everyone who doesnt like ham. he digs at ham at every opportunity…
        this alonso
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGD0GIC2llE
        same alonso
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kB9rAjaFeUc

        same alonso comments so much this year to talk down ham, allocating all his success to car and what not… and mocking in a way in a rubbish race by any standards…

        i dont remember hamilton talking much about alonso, bad certainly didnt hear for a very long time… but alonso just cant control his ham’s rent free situation his head

        1. Let’s not forget who started the incident in Hungary in 2007.
          Hamilton was ordered by Ron Dennis to let Fernando get a hot lap in during quality but he refused to move aside.
          That is the reason Alonso later purposely held Hamilton up in pit lane.
          No doubt Hamilton is a great driver but he has had seven or eight years relatively easy years.
          It could be his turn to deal with the frustration Alonso has dealt with for all these years.
          There are very talented younger drivers who are arguably as fast and are on teams with equal machinery.
          Not the saying he can’t win another championship, but right now he is having problems keeping up with his teammate.
          It might be his days of glory are over.

    4. Boudi,
      Is that you the man with camera ?

    5. I thought the object of a race was to keep the person behind you behind you just as Alonso did. Very entertaining I thought.

    6. Did Ricciardo ruin everyone’s race in 2018 when he won by running 5 seconds a lap off the pace? Anyone saying Alonso or so and so “held up” others is either DELUSIONAL or new to F1. THERE IS NO PASSING IN MONACO unless a mistake is made or the speed gap is literally in the 6-10 second a lap range. It’s why we saw people on extreme wets hold up people on slicks for multiple laps.

      Secondly, it doesn’t matter if Lewis has more potential lap speed. By these people’s logic, anytime you catch another driver on track they should just move over or else they’ve ruined that person’s race…lol. Held up is a another way of saying man behind couldn’t make a pass.

      Finally, EVEN if Alonso had gone as fast as Lewis was capable of, both he and Alonso would have ended up in the same place. Quali and the under/over cut = end of race always (and with no rain or other flukes, quali is basically the results). Alonso would have likely started in 6th or even 5th if not for Perez’s crash. I guess Perez ruined FA’s and LH’s race.

    7. What’s even funnier, is that these complaints are coming a driver (and some of his fans) who tried the strategy of holding up the driver behind him to win the WDC (which was fine in my book). I guess LH just has double standards or no common sense. Both most likely since he would have finished in the same place if Alonso had followed close to Lando.

  2. Many have done the same thing in previous years (Ham/Merc included) exploiting Monaco’s disability of overtaking.
    It is Liberty Media the one who must decide whether Monaco GP should continue to take place every year in the name of tradition when it’s 90% sure that you will see a totally boring race (welll…not a race actually)

    1. Agree, hoping this race will not go ahead next year or the years after. Alonso didn’t do anything wrong during the race, it’s just that he is hitting at Hamilton at each and every occasion which shows his obsession with the past defeat.

      1. My brother in Christ, the question was about whether he cared about the frustration he was causing behind him. Stop being a chump and think for yourself a bit. Instead of falling back to lazy narratives and regurgitated analysis

  3. Monaco, it is a high speed parade. Won’t miss it, if it goes away.

    1. Well, the race was more fun than at least a couple this year, including the “fabulous” Miami GP. For the strange reasons perhaps, but still, this was an interesting race. Monaco offers different kind of excitement, but there is excitement nonetheless. Not to mention that it’s kind of a benchmark for drivers’ skills. Plus, call me old-fashioned, but tradition matters to me. If Saudi GP (especially after the “show” on its debut) is to be kept, but Monaco kicked out of the calendar, then something’s very wrong in this world of F1 (more than just the usual amount).

    2. greasemonkey
      30th May 2022, 15:05

      I think some legacy tracks, in particular Monaco, would be better served with a “joker” bit of track somewhere, but GRC (not WRX) style where the joker is faster is faster. You get N joker laps per race.

      This would be better than DRS too, and would actually work at Monaco (where DRS does not). Drop DRS. Add joker laps to some tracks.

      The strategy/tactics of a limited budget of joker laps has already been proven with the precedent of RX.

  4. Your problem Fernando was making the Trulli train look speedy.

    1. The other aspect is that, from the point of view of the team, it was a counterproductive strategy.

      He was initially driving so slowly that most thought that he must have had some sort of mechanical fault, because it was far beyond what anybody thought was necessary to manage tyre wear – or, for that matter, creating a gap where Norris could pit for tyres and come out more than 10 seconds ahead after just a handful of laps, such was his pace. He put himself in a situation where any issues for the drivers in front could not be capitalised on, because he was so far off the pace that he couldn’t have taken advantage of any issues they might have.

      Secondly, in doing so he guaranteed that the penalty for Ocon was going to drop him out of the points – in effect, damaging the interests of the team with a strategy that placed his own interests above that of the team (especially since I’m pretty sure that they told him to speed up several laps before he did finally speed up precisely because of that penalty for Ocon).

      In doing so, he’s single handedly ensured that Alpine are still behind Alfa Romeo in the World Constructors Championship, because the points he cost Ocon, and the additional points that Bottas did score, are enough for them to stay in 5th ahead of Alpine. Come the end of the season, Alonso’s decision might well prove to be quite costly for the team if Alfa Romeo does manage to stay ahead by a couple of points.

      1. And some people are applauding him for such negative and counterproductive race simply because it kept behind or it frustrated him; is that all he cares about, keep LH behind even at the cost of valuable points for the team? Unbelievable!

  5. So all he cared about was keeping LH behind? Drivers do manage tyres but to do that by deliberately driving 3-4s slower, which meant in a very few laps, he was 30+s behind Lando! It’s like he was just happy to be where he was, with no plan or ambition to try and move forward?! What if Lando had made a mistake somewhere?
    Of course he’s got the right to do what he did but it was such a negative race! Even Ocon realised that and mentioned it on the radio for Alonso to speed but by the time he sped up, it was too late and Ocon dropped out of the points after his 5s time penalty was applied! And some people think that was great simply because such negative race kept LH behind?! And bragging that it was really easy to keep LH behind, in Monaco of all races, seriously?

    1. It’s a good point about picking up a place from an error. But even if a car missed the chicane completely it would be hard to claim the spot with the stewards. People do go off at st. Devote but it seemed it was only the Williams and Tsunoda doing that. I also recall mclaren was telling Norris to hurry up to catch Russell and he was like, why?

    2. I think it was about LH, but not due to some bitterness harking 15 years ago, more about LH’s skill plus Alpine’s poor tyre wear which was a huge problem in practise and in the Aus GP and saw Alonso go backwards after looking like he could qualify in the top 5. If Alonso went faster and lost his tyres, I think Hamilton would have been able to take him even in Monaco.

  6. It’s really time for F1 to find a new modus for the Monaco weekend!

    I don’t know, maybe regular quali on Saturday with a 30 minute Q3 (in which the time does not keep ticking down in case of a red flag) and 10 to 1 points awarded for the respective quali results. Then a 50 lap race on Sunday with 2 mandatory pitstops or something like that…

  7. TenLizards MinusOne
    29th May 2022, 23:35

    Weird world. Ricardo gets praise, and Alonso is being p****d on for doing exactly the same thing?

    Let the ol’ man have his share of fun!

  8. I liked this decision by alonso, very unusual, and I have absolutely no doubt he did it to damage hamilton (in the means I’m sure he didn’t), as he made several positive comments over the years, and unlike some say I don’t believe he still thinks about 2007.

  9. I was also very annoyed but driving as slow as possible, within your own strategic opportunities, is the best strategy here. And such opportunities are few if everyone ahead has stopped at least once. It’s actually amazing that people don’t just park it in every corner and then hustle a bit down the straights. What’s the point in going fast? You can drive like 10s off the pace a no one can pass you.

  10. Alonso was driver of the day. Lewis is nothing without a car that’s a second clear of the pack per lap. He’s enjoyed an advantage for too many years and is now being regularly shown up by his teammate. His stat-padding days are gone and he should get used to seeing Fernando’s taillights.

    1. Alonso could go as fast as Hamilton, he showed that once he got the call to help Ocon build a bit of agap @sjzelli. Perez had a far harder job keeping Sainz behind.

  11. There’s nothing agains going slower to manage the tyres, it works in Monaco. I do think he might have overdone it a bit though since the gap opened up so big ahead of him. He was up to 3 seconds per lap slower than the cars ahead at those early stages.

    But that is nothing Alonso should worry about too much, I guess. On the other hand, him going as slow as he did hurt Ocon and it enabled Norris that free pitstop to get the point for FLAP.

    1. And yet he is still getting praised by some people and even calling it ‘smart’?! What he did cost his team 2 valuable points but hey, that’s all good as long as that ‘kept’ LH behind, right?
      I watched the race with my 12-year old son and even he was asking why is Alonso doing that? It’s going to drop Ocon out of the points!
      Equally surprising was why the team allowed him to that for some laps when they knew it was going to negatively impact Ocon? When Ocon complained on team radio and they finally asked Alonso to speed up, it was too late!
      Let’s see what they will say if Alfa Romeo beats them by 2 points at the end of the season…

  12. Pjotr (@pietkoster)
    30th May 2022, 9:05

    Hamilton, at the moment he is just a midfield competitor. Accept it. The car is a piece of junk. Accept it. Hamilton is done for this season. Accept it. Russell performs better, accept it. Further talks about Hamilton are pointless until he gets a better car.

  13. Alonso gave up intentionally on 6th place, giving Lando enough space he could go to sleep and still retain 6th position. As an effect of that, not only gave up any higher positions, but compromised his teammate race, becasue since a proper traffic jam occured behind him, Ocon was unable to pull any gap on Bottas and Vettel, who showed some pace problems (there was a moment that gap between Ocon and Vettel grew over 5 seconds, but Alonso still keep slowing down), and thus – after the penalty was applied, he dropped out of the points.

    Proper team effort, as the real teamplayer who Alonso always was. Except no.

    1. And yet, some people are still applauding him simply because what he did ‘kept’ LH behind; go figure!

    2. Man, Ocon races for no one but himself.. so if Alonso did it intentionally to hurt Ocon’s finishing result, I’m really glad he did. Fernando has been playing a strong team player role ever since he joined Alpine last year, and he’s been contributing to Ocon’s results much more than the other way around. Ocon would still be winless if it wasn’t for Alonso.

      After finishing behind Alonso in the points last year, I’m pretty sure Ocon’s only objective for this season is to finish in front of Alonso in the points. So, if Alonso reduced his points total as a result, I think it’s a good move. He needs to forget this team player nonsense for a rubbish talent like Ocon. I rather see him at his ruthless best where he is the de facto team leader and destroys his teammate mercilessly every race weekend.

      1. How petty minded a preson has to be to think something like that…..wow. And if you think Ocon only races for himself….just look at Qatar and Miami before speaking.

  14. He did what all racers try to do. Drive as slow as possible while trying to win the race… Un this case keep position And yea it would be easy with these huge cars and the track to defend. Even the ferraris being faster couldn’t pass the slower redbulls.

    1. The big difference being that doing what he did cost his team 2 valuable points but I guess that didn’t matter as long as the ‘old wily Alonso’ could ‘keep’ Hamilton behind at a track like Monaco, right?!

      1. But Alonso made a 5 second gap on LH but the chequered flag, so it was LH who either lost his tyres or decided not to bother going any faster which punished Ocon. And Hamilton was well within his rights to do that as was Alonso.

      2. Im in agreement with you. Alonso is also a selfish driver. But then all true champions are. And just as he kept lewis behind he jeapodised his partners position as well. Just to keep his own. So when he sped up lewis slowed down and or maintained speed thus pushing Ocon out of the points. Tit for tat.

  15. Well, if you are stuck behind a (non-lapped) competitor, racing for position, I would consider it the trailing competitor’s job to pass, not the leading competitor’s job to let you past. Competitors are not there to let someone else end up higher in the order than themselves.

    Yes, it is practically impossible to pass at Monaco, so don’t end up behind someone. For instance, qualify ahead of them.

    An alternative solution: stop racing at Monaco. It is not a suitable track for modern F1 cars.

  16. i have no problem with what alonso did, i mean whatever he can do what he like and drive as slow as he needs.
    However, this track is awful. racing shouldn’t be like this. if a car decides to drive really slow and you can’t overtake despite them being off the pace for 3-4 seconds, there is definitely a problem there that needs solving. what kind of a track is that? you call this racing, on such a track? no way. Monaco needs to disappear, this track is a relic of the past.

    1. 100% in agreement, alonso basically proved why Monaco shouldn’t be on the calendar

  17. The only problem with this masterful strategy was that Hamilton then in response decided to just hold up Ocon and make sure his 5 second time penalty meant he didn’t score points. Well done Nando’s, you cost your team two points….

  18. Alonso did what he and Alpine decided to do at the restart: save the tires for the last push if needed. It’s Monaco, passing’s not easy, but its easy to make a mistake if your tires are screwed…

    As for screwing Ocon, that’s on Alpine pit wall to inform Alonso to speed up… not that it would matter one bit, as it didn’t! Putting the blame on Alonso for Ocon’s lost positions, it’s just wishfull thinking justifing gratuitous ignorance. How many of you really thought Bottas, Vettel and Gasly would allow that?

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