F1 News: Fernando Alonso Demands Change After Qatar Disaster

A delay in the race might have done wonders.

Author:
Saajan Jogia
Publish date:
Oct 13, 2023

After a much-heated Qatar Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso called for changes to be made to races that happen in extreme conditions. He suggested that such races must be delayed until the conditions are race-friendly.

The unforgiving race conditions in Qatar on Sunday prompted several drivers to say that it was the toughest race of their careers. The heat and humidity caused Logan Sargeant to end his race much earlier while Williams driver Alex Albon demanded medical attention.

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After the drivers raised an alarm about the grueling conditions, the FIA on Monday promised an investigation to prevent health and safety risks going forward.

One major step the sport took was to push next year's Qatar Grand Prix to December 1, after considering winter's cooler temperatures. However, Alonso suggested that there should've been an option to run the race later in the day in Qatar. He told the media:

“It was a surprise, to be honest, because it was not that bad in free practice.
Maybe it was windy or something and today we missed that wind or something, that ventilation.
It was extreme. We need to see if in the future there is any solution, and in some extreme conditions we can agree on delaying the start or whatever.”

Valtteri Bottas added that there should be a limit to what can be acceptable. He said:

“There should be. Because of course, every driver, we've tried to complete the race, and you're not going to stop if you still can drive. But at some point, it gets unhealthy and risky. I wouldn't go hotter than this.”

Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin revealed that moving next year's race to December might solve the big problem. He explained:

"Fundamentally, when the air temperature is near body temperature around 36 degrees you can blow air at the driver, but it doesn’t have the same cooling effect as when the air is a bit lower.
The added humidity also makes it very difficult for them. Now, what is the real solution to that? Next year the race moves to December. That's a cooler part of the year and that's probably the biggest thing that we can do to help.”