Alonso Jokes About Watching F1 Title Fight on Big Screens
YAS MARINA, Abu Dhabi — Fernando Alonso joked that he plans to spend most of his own Abu Dhabi Grand Prix watching F1’s three-way title fight on the various big screens dotted around the Yas Marina circuit. The Aston Martin driver will start sixth, a few grid slots behind title contenders Max Verstappen, Lando Norris, and Oscar Piastri, who qualified in a potentially box office first, second, and third for Sunday’s showdown event.
The Spaniard plans to join F1’s worldwide audience from the cockpit of his car. Asked if he will watch the race, he joked: “A lot, a lot, because also it’s a very easy circuit! In Turn 3, you have a screen that you know it’s in the middle of the view. In Turn 5, you have a screen on the inside. [Turn] 7, the outside. [Turn] 9, there are two, one on entry, one on exit, there’s plenty of screens. Tomorrow will be a fantastic show.”
Championship Implications for Aston Martin
Sunday’s race has championship implications of its own for Alonso’s Aston Martin team. They go into the finale in seventh, 12 points behind Racing Bulls team and seven in front of Haas, who are just five points ahead of Sauber. Some in the paddock think Verstappen may slow the McLaren drivers up from the lead and try to back them into the chasing pack.
Should he do so successfully, it could bring the likes of Alonso into play, but the Spaniard has no intention of spoiling anything for the contenders. “I really hope to be as far as possible from the fight,” Alonso said. “Not too far, because I want to win the points, but yeah, not to be in the news on Monday!”
Qualifying Results
The qualifying results saw Verstappen take the top spot, followed closely by Norris and Piastri. The full qualifying results are as follows:
| Driver | Team | Times | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 – Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1:22.207 | |
| 2 – Lando Norris | McLaren | +0.201 | |
| 3 – Oscar Piastri | McLaren | +0.230 | |
| 4 – George Russell | Mercedes | +0.438 | |
| 5 – Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | +0.523 | |
| 6 – Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | +0.695 | |
| 7 – Gabriel Bortoleto | Sauber | +0.697 | |
| 8 – Esteban Ocon | Haas | +0.706 | |
| 9 – Isack Hadjar | Racing Bulls | +0.865 | |
| 10 – Yuki Tsunoda | Red Bull | — |
Alonso also joked about the implication Verstappen might try to back McLaren up. When asked if Verstappen might do that, he raised his eyebrows up and down with a smirk. “I hadn’t thought about that,” he said, laughing. “Who knows… that’s interesting, I hadn’t thought about that. Now I have something to think about tonight.
“Sometimes if he slows down it is not enough for us to catch him. So I think he would need to slow down a lot. We will try to do our race and if the strategy is open for more open different things we will try to react. Obviously our race is with Haas and Sauber in the constructors’ championship, there is no other incentive for us. We will focus on that.”
