“It was a super race”: Fernando Alonso looks at the positive despite his retirement in the US F1 Grand Prix

Fernando Alonso believes he had a great race at the 2023 US Grand Prix in Austin, despite retirement. Speaking after the race to media including Sportskeeda, the Spanish champion felt that if it weren’t for damage on his car, a points finish was a guarantee.

Starting from the pitlane with a new setup and package on the car, Fernando Alonso was running seventh in the race but had to retire his car on lap 50. The Spaniard claims to have picked damage on his floor during the race, making him one out of three retirements from the Austin race.

Asked by Sportskeeda to describe his race, Fernando Alonso said:

“Yeah, it was a super race for us. Great comeback. Out of pace in the car so we started from the pit lane and we were aiming to finish eighth. So this was a very good race for us. Unfortunately, we had to retire the car from some damage that we picked on the floor apparently. We had to retire so it is pretty painful because the whole weekend we were lacking pace, but it was not good. I mean the race today we had a lot of pace but we still had to retire. So zero points, it hurts. There’s nothing we can do. We concentrate on Mexico.”

Asked about where he could have picked up damage on his car, he replied:

“Yeah probably kerbs and yeah I know.”

Suggesting that they had the pace in their car to finish both cars in points, Fernando Alonso felt it was a positive race. As much as the DNF hurt, he felt there were a lot of takeaways from the Austin race. He believes he could have finished eighth. The Aston Martin cars were upgraded with a new downforce package which seemed to have aided them. However, the two green cars were far in the midfield compared to the competitive weekends they’ve had in the races pre-summer break. His teammate Lance Stroll finished ninth in the race after a consecutive series of dismal weekends post Austria.

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Fernando Alonso believes they are yet to understand the new upgrades on their car

Explaining the upgrades on his car, Fernando Alonso felt the Austin race was a bit of a test session for their car. He believes it will take a lot of time to analyze the progress made with the new upgrades and how it can be optimized. The double champion felt that their pace was a positive sign but they will need more feedback from their factory before being able to anticipate their performance at the next races.

Asked by Sportskeeda about his understanding of the upgrades on the car, Fernando Alonso joked, saying:

“That will take a lot of time and when we understand eventually we will not tell you.”

Probed further if he will have new parts on his car at FP1 in Mexico, the double champion said:

“I don’t know, it's a team decision. There is a lot of information to go through at the factory. I think we had yesterday both cars struggling a little bit. We didn’t do many laps in the weekend and today we went again into the race completely blind, with new setups for both cars, even a different package with both cars. So a little bit as a test session. I feel we felt more competitive today than any other session on the weekend. Starting from the pit lane, both cars in the points, I think are better than what we saw yesterday. That’s good news but obviously, we need to understand many details.”

Clueless about what to expect from the upgrades, Fernando Alonso felt their performance in the race was better than most of the sessions on the weekend. With only a single session of free practice available ahead of the USGP, he felt it was difficult to judge their upgrades. Still running fourth in the championship with a total of 183 points, the double champion has been unable to close in on Lewis Hamilton or Sergio Perez in the championship with his last few performances. With four more rounds left on the calendar, it will be interesting to see how the 42-year-old is able to maximize his opportunities to round off the season on a high.