US GP F1 2022: Fernando Alonso: ‘All the champions have used the gray areas’

Fernando Alonso Line up closer to Max Verstappen and Red Bull when assessing the penalty the Austrian team would receive for exceeding the spending cap. The two-time champion thinks everyone in F1 is on an illegal border.

Japan.

“I think it was hard to read the race for everyone and you have to be lucky on your side because even if you stop very early under the safety car, when you restart the red flag you will be last, so you never know what ‘could happen’.

Alpine fight and McLaren.

“Hopefully we can finish the races. I generally think my car was faster, but we didn’t finish every race and lost a lot of points. If we fix the reliability issues in the last four races, I think we can finish ahead of them, but they will fight until the last race.”

Relationship with the Alps.

“I think they were very open and very honest and always have been, so I think it’s going to be that way until the end. I don’t think it’s going to be a problem.”

Penalty to Red Bull.

“The spending cap is new, but there were always other things you could explore the gray areas in. People who win championships always do it by exploring the gray areas. Then other teams copy them and get to that level. Or that thing that’s allowed even before two forbidden races. That’s the nature of Formula 1. I don’t remember a champion who didn’t take advantage of some of the elements that surprised the other teams: Brawn, Red Bull in 2012, Mercedes dominance… Ferrari won two races in 2019 with something everyone knows is illegal and nothing happened. …Imagine if they won the World Cup with this engine. In the end, I trust people who have the power. I’m just a pilot.”