In the last nine races In Formula 1, since the Spanish Grand Prix, the safety car is no longer required to enter the track.
Nothing like this has been seen in the “Grand Cirque” for 20 years, in 2004and also this last Singapore Grand Prix was the first in history without the presence of any.
Regarding this aspect, they asked Fernando Alonso during an interview on ‘Motorsport’.
The Asturian, the oldest driver on the grid, gave his theory: “These cars are not easy to drive, but I think that the problem is also to extract 100%“.
“So if you’re riding at 90%, sometimes you’re faster because you’re not putting the car at an angle or at an awkward driving height, you don’t push the limitsand that’s where it all falls apart, so sometimes going to 90% is faster,” he explained.
He also gives a recent example: “The Azerbaijan Grand Prix was a good example. I was 15th in Q1, with Lando’s problem. [Norris]otherwise I would have been 16th and I would have been eliminated in Q1, and seven minutes later I put on another set of tires and I was 5th in Q2, I improved like a second, but I drove the same“.
“I was braking at the same points, it was the same preparation on this lap, but I was able to improve by more than a second, and some of us did the opposite. They were fast in Q1 and very slow in Q2 and sometimes we I haven’t found explanations on when we are faster, when we are slower and why,” he added.
This need to take care of the car is what leads to the absence of safety cars: “That’s why, sometimes in racing, because we are all driving at 90%, we have to pay attention to the tires, to the fuel economy and all that.” type of factors, we don’t see too many problems, safety cars or accidents“.
“Cars run better when you go at that speed, it kind of goes against the driver’s instinct, which is to put a new tire on, go into qualifying and get 110% if you can , but now It’s something you have to deal with.“, he settled.
