An air leak caused Alonso’s engine problems
The two-time world champion could have hoped for a better position at the finish line, but a problem with his engine prevented him from doing so.
Fernando Alonso had high hopes for this Canadian Grand Prix, but it was frustration that prevailed at the finish. Qualifying in second place, the Spanish driver had a lot of hope of scoring big points and thus putting the bad luck that had plagued him at the beginning of the season firmly behind him.
But quickly, the two-time world champion in 2005 and 2006 lost a few positions due to a problem with his power unit. The strategy implemented by his team did not help him either, as even his teammate finished ahead of him at the end of the race.
« We had a small problem with Fernando’s car, which is why he finished behind Esteban. We don’t know yet what it is. But it seems that there was an air leak somewhere. But where, I don’t know. This manifested itself with higher temperatures, and then we had to manage, so we were limited on the straight line. Thank God it wasn’t serious enough for us to retire,” explained the team director, Otmar Szafnauer, later. On his side, the driver lamented that this kind of problem only affected his car.
Without this issue, the Romanian-American is convinced that Fernando Alonso could have fought with the Mercedes because his Alpine had a similar pace. A situation that could have earned more points for the Spaniard who might have avoided a penalty at the end of the race for zigzagging while trying to defend his position against Valtteri Bottas.
