F1 News: Fernando Alonso Reveals Costly Aston Martin Monaco GP Confusion

Fernando Alonso discovered post-race that a miscommunication had led him to believe he was in a scoring position, only to finish 11th.

Nov 15, 2023; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso of Spain during media availabilities at Las Vegas Strip Circuit. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports / Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Fernado Alonso's Monaco Grand Prix was marked by frustration and confusion after a series of miscommunications led the Aston Martin driver to mistakenly believe he was in a points-scoring position. The mix-up left Alonso defending a non-existent 10th place for most of the laps.

During the race around the iconic streets of Monte Carlo, the Spanish driver was initially informed by his team that he had secured the 10th position following pit stops. Speaking to the media after the race, Alonso revealed, as quoted by Crash.Net:

"I got confused because when we [built the gap] and Lance was in front of me after the pitstops, they said, 'okay, we secured 10th.' We've been doing all this for that last point.

"Then Lance had the puncture, I said, 'Oh, now I have all the responsibility in my shoulders with very old tyres to bring this point back home.' I was driving for 50 laps thinking that I was 10th.

"And then when I crossed the line and they told me P11, I said, 'Oh, so, uh, all that stress for nothing.' But anyway, it kept me alive.

"I don't know [why that happened]. When the red flag came out, Lance was P10, I was P12. And then at one point they reinstated Sainz in P3, so we were 12th and 14th, we should be 13th and 14th, but Lance was in front of Daniel that he was not supposed to be.

"So I don't know in which position I started, and I don't know in which position I was driving.”

The red flag during the race prompted a shift from hard to medium tires, contrary to the team's original strategic plan which involved stretching the hard tires far into the race. Alonso continued:

"When there is a red flag and then you change tyres and you go to the end, the only point of interest in a Monaco race is the pitstops that you have to do. If you remove that excitement of a pit stop, then it becomes nothing.

"Maybe it reopens the conversations of when there is a red flag, not changing tyres or be obliged to have the same tyre or something, because if not, there are certain occasions that the race is compromised.

"In our case it was very unlucky again. I think we didn't have the pace. It was a bad weekend. No doubt about that. We cannot hide our performance, but also we cannot hide that we've been very unlucky.

"We started with a hard tyre just to go very end and have an alternative strategy. There is a red flag, so we have to fit the medium and do 78 laps with the medium, which is a kamikaze strategy, but it was the only way to try to score some points."