Alonso takes aim at F1 broadcast over “grumpy guy” portrayal

Fernando Alonso has taken aim at Formula One Management [FOM] for portraying him as a “grumpy guy” after a team radio rant over the performance of his Aston Martin during Friday’s practice for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was broadcast.

The two-time Formula 1 world champion has a long list of famous team radio messages where he has voiced his displeasure, most notably when with McLaren during the ill-fated Honda years last decade.

Frustration has been rising given Aston Martin’s struggles in breaking into the top 10 this season, especially given its strong start to last year’s campaign, with Alonso telling his team: “Worst car ever, and worst traffic preparation ever. Next time I will do the out-lap myself.”

Despite his lack of pleasure with the AMR24, the Spaniard took eighth on the grid with a solid qualifying performance at the Yas Marina Circuit, giving Alonso and the Silverstone-based outfit the chance to finish the year on a high.

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Asked how he pulled off his qualifying performance after his frustration in practice, Alonso replied: “But today I said that I had a good feeling. So yeah, I mean, we started on the wrong foot, for sure, the car was very disconnected front and rear. They were not talking to each other.

“We made some set-up changes overnight. We didn’t succeed in improving the performance, because FP3, we were 17th and 19th. So still not there. So we made further changes before qualifying, and it seems that we found the window where the car is happier.

“So yeah, these cars are so critical, the operating window is so narrow that it is not easy to find it. It seems that we did it before quali. Happy to start eighth, but it’s going to be a tough race tomorrow.”

Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin AMR24

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

On whether the struggles in practice marked the lowest point of the season, Alonso levelled criticism at FOM for its broadcast decisions.

“It was a bad traffic. It was a frustration building. But yeah, as usual, you know, some comments are good, some comments are bad, but FOM has this fix with me, with bad comments – but I’m happy with that. It’s their job.

“Yesterday I had some positive things [to say] as well but as I said, FOM, they have to sell that I’m the grumpy guy. They tried for many years and they will not succeed.

“I didn’t have a good time [in practice] but I think all these conversations are very private with your engineer. You are trying sometimes different things. You speak about some out-lap preparations that maybe I don’t agree with the engineers.

“They want to try anyway, it doesn’t work. So you tell them, ‘Wow, you know this – we knew it beforehand’, or something like that.

“But when you don’t have all that context behind and you just put the radio message, it’s just wrong. But it is the way they do it.”