Fernando Alonso held talks with FIA president after error involving Brad Pitt’s F1 team
Fernando Alonso was left furious with the FIA following a calamitous error at the Hungarian Grand Prix last weekend.
Fernando Alonso has confirmed that he held talks with FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem after he was erroneously called into Parc Ferme along with Aston Martin team-mate Lance Stroll at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
The veteran Spaniard was called into Parc Ferme in qualifying where he pulled up behind an APX GP car - the fictional team for which Brad Pitt and Damson Idris’ characters drive in the F1 movie - and climbed out of the cockpit.
After FIA representatives put the barriers up, the two Aston Martin drivers were called into the Parc Ferme zone after Yuki Tsunoda triggered a late red flag in Q3. Alonso climbed out of the cockpit, although he was later allowed to get back in the car and make a final tilt to improve his position.
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The incident went viral with some fans mistakenly believing that this was a ‘fake Parc Ferme’ only constructed to generate footage of the APX GP footage in a race weekend setting. This, however, was not true, and the only reason Alonso didn’t do another run was that he had used up all his fresh sets of soft compound tyres.
“Yes, I spoke to the [FIA] president Mohammed,” Alonso explained. “And yes, even on Saturday afternoon, I think as I said after qualifying, I never saw in any category to send two cars into the closed garage two and a half minutes before the end of Q3. And then re-open the Parc Fermé, go back to the garage and things like that. And that's not great.”
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He later added: “I know it was a mistake. I've been asked for forgiveness hundreds of times. Already when I was at Parc Ferme, they told me ‘Get back in the car and I'm sorry, sorry, sorry’. So it wasn't on purpose or anything like that.
“We all make mistakes, but in those moments, you never expect to have those kind of mistakes, although it didn't really change anything, I couldn't improve my time or anything, so it was less painful.”
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While Alonso was rightfully frustrated by the FIA’s blunder, he will take greater concern with Aston Martin’s struggles to close the gap to the top four teams. The Silverstone-based outfit have only had both cars in the top 10 on four occasions in 2024 and Alonso has finished outside of the points in five of the last seven races.
Aston Martin now find themselves in a midfield no man’s land, in a similar position to that of Alpine in 2024. With a 36-point buffer over sixth-placed VCARB, there is little reason to fear the threat from below, but with a massive gulf to the top four, it is hard for Alonso and Stroll to get excited about fighting for P9 and P10 every weekend.
