What was behind Alonso’s “cannot ******* believe it” radio message

The Aston Martin driver vented his frustration in the early stages of the Qatar GP

Fernando Alonso has explained his “cannot ******* believe it” radio message that he issued in the early stages of the Qatar Grand Prix.

The Spaniard had been running eighth during the initial safety car phase that had been triggered by Esteban Ocon and Franco Colapinto’s opening corner crash.

But at the restart for the beginning of lap five, Alonso found himself on the backfoot as both Lewis Hamilton and Yuki Tsunoda swooped past him on the main straight.

In a radio message that was broadcast on the international feed, Alonso said: “I cannot ******* believe it man. Two years with the same ******* problem on the straights.”

While the reference to straight line speed initially was suspected to be in reference to the high-drag characteristics that Aston Martin has had over recent years, his remarks were actually more about energy deployment out of the corners.

And in particular, it was how Aston Martin had programmed the energy deployment characteristics to ensure that he had maximum boost available at the restart.

Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin F1 Team

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Reflecting on the radio message, Alonso, who went on to finish seventh, said: “It's not the first race that we are lacking top speed in the first lap of the race, or after the safety car.

“I think the car is confused that still thinking that we are behind the safety car, so we don't deploy the energy properly out of the last corner when it's a green flag. That obviously is very costly if you don't deploy the energy when you have all the cars around you.

“We lost, I think, two or three places at the first restart, and that was very worrying for the final outcome of the race.

“We compensated at the end with some safety cars and better luck. So we're still investigating. I think we know what the issue is. We just need to find the solution.”

Aston Martin team boss Mike Krack said that the team needed to do a proper analysis about the impact of the energy deployment and how the car’s acceleration compared to the opposition.

“I think he was a bit frustrated there, to not be able to attack more on the restart,” explained Krack. “It's something we need to look at.

“I think our traction was not great, and this is what he mainly feels. Obviously, from a driver’s point of view, first of all there is having frustration. That's the first thing.

"But then secondly, you think maybe they're deploying differently, or someone is using the energy differently. So we will look into it.

“It is important that we discern what it is like, because maybe it is a comment that is misleading for going forward. But I understand that it was made, because this is your feeling there, and you're desperate because people are just going [past].”