McLaren Honda Formula 1 Team driver Fernando Alonso feels that some drivers need to stop being so aggressive at the start of a race, as it is completely unnecessary.
Having gotten off to one of his now iconic flying starts, making up two places immediately, the Spaniard was cruelly taken out of the running when he was hit heavily from behind by Scuderia Toro Rosso driver Daniil Kvyat at the first corner.
The incident forced the double world champion to retire from the race, having sustained too much damage form a broken floor.
“We had a good start again; I was able to benefit from Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen’s poor getaways, so I was already up to 10th when we arrived at the first corner. But, the guys behind me arrived at the turn too quickly, didn’t brake enough and destroyed my race.
Alonso had been hoping that scoring some points would be a real possibility this weekend, having fared better than expected in qualifying, despite having to switch back to the phase 2 Honda engine, following an MGU-H issue with the phase 3 unit ahead of FP3.
The McLaren driver was therefore extremely disappointed to once again be taken out of contention early doors through no fault of his own.
“I was hoping for a good race but we were just unlucky – things were out of my hands; I was just a passenger.”
As a seasoned racer, Alonso believes there are drivers out there who need to take more care off the start line, feeling that taking extra risks to gain just one extra position, is not worth the high probability of an accident, in what is already a chaotic and tricky situation.
“We know it’s always tricky to start from the middle of the pack, but it’s just not necessary to gain an extra meter at the first corner. Sometimes, the guys behind risk things a bit too much.”
