Fernando Alonso Home Race Woes Continue as New Alpine Decision Puts Him at the Back of the F1 Spanish GP Grid

The Alpine of Fernando Alonso has shown a lot of potential throughout the opening five races. The 40-year-old Spanish world champion is still showing incredible pace in his car. But recently, luck doesn’t really seem to be on his side. Now it is being reported that Alpine will change Alonso’s engine for the Spanish GP. This will result in a grid penalty and Alonso will start his home Grand Prix last.

This is a big blow after an already poor qualifying result which saw Alonso get eliminated in Q1. The Spaniard who was already qualified at P17 will now start at P20. He will start the race behind the Williams of Albon and Latifi. But this will give Alonso an incredible opportunity to attack from the start with a new engine in the back of his car. And we might be in for a treat from the Spaniard at the Spanish Grand Prix.

Josep Lluís MERLOS, a Spanish journalist, tweeted the Alpine decision ahead of the race. “Fernando Alonso will start tomorrow last on the grid of @Circuitcat_cat(Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya). At Alpine they have decided to change the engine. He will go for a 3-stop strategy, probably going out with soft and pending what a hypothetical Safety Car can bring him. Spectacle assured!” read the tweet.

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The Catalan journalist also disclosed the probable strategy Alpine will use in the race. The Barcelona circuit promises high tire degradation. If Alonso starts out on soft tires, he will be in attack mode from the start. And Alpine will hope for a safety car for their pit stops. The soft tires might last for Alonso for a long time, so it would defiantly be an exciting start for the Spaniard, and for all the fans on the circuit!

Fernando Alonso blames misunderstanding for Q1 exit

Scoring points in his first race at the Bahrain Grand Prix set high expectations for Alonso. But he hasn’t quite fulfilled them with a series of unfortunate races since then. And the trend continued at the Spanish GP qualifying.

“It was a misunderstanding in qualy,” Alonso explained. “I started a lap behind Lando thinking that I had one or two seconds margin with the red light. But then I had like 20 seconds margin.”

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“If I knew that in advance, I would create more gap with Lando and do my own lap. But I heard in the radio ‘it’s very, very tight, you need to go now, now, now’. So I went immediately when they told me and it was not necessary at the end,”

Now, with an engine change, the Spaniard will start last. And it will take an enormous effort to repeat his feat from Bahrain.