Twenty seasons ago that Fernando Alonso has been in Formula 1. Twenty, which must also be added to his participation in the WEC, the Dakar and various endurance races. Despite this, the Spaniard, Aston Martin driver, was very clear after the Qatar GP race.

He defined it as “one of the most difficult” he has run in his entire history. He, a driver with 20 seasons of experience and with a Dakar that we already know, did not hesitate for an instant when qualifying for the event organized in Losail.

The one in which he left a radio on which he directly asked for water to be thrown on him. One in which, as we know, he even ended up with a slight burn. Because in Qatar, inside cars, temperatures above 60 degrees were reached.

There were moments of real risk for the pilots. Lance Stroll, faded in the middle of the straight. The Canadian himself, straight towards an ambulance out of the car. Ocon, I’m vomiting. Sargeant, retirement due to dehydration… Almost everyone suffered from the racing conditions.

“If Alonso complains…”

Because of the temperature, because of the minimum three stops they had to make for the Pirellis. Due to track limitations. Due to physical exertion and G-forces. Now, Mike Krack, his boss at Aston Martin, responded to Alonso’s sentence when he got off the AMR23 and spoke to the media present at Losail.

That of Luxembourg is clear: “If Fernando Alonso complains, it is because he has really been a physically difficult race.

Because he knows well everything that the Asturian has experienced. Everything he has experienced when it comes to complicated races. On the asphalt, in the dunes…. and Fernando pretty much put Qatar ahead of anything he’s experienced in a car.

Qatar 2024, in December

Next year, the Qatar test will not take place in October. It will be December and we will know if, with almost two months difference, at least the problem of high temperatures can be solved. The Pirelli affair will be another story…