Fernando Alonso has already filmed a scene for Brad Pitt’s F1 movie, but the FIA fiasco could mean he’ll end up starring in another film.
The Spaniard struggled after a “serious mistake” in Hungary, however, and finished the race outside the points.
Alonso was furious at the two FIA mistakes that overshadowed his race. Photo: Rex
The Aston Martin driver qualified seventh in Budapest but a poor strategy meant he ultimately finished 11th.
But the outcome might have been very different if Alonso’s efforts had not been thwarted in a strange way during F1’s final qualifying session.
The 42-year-old was on a flying lap with just 2 minutes 23 seconds remaining until the end of Q3 when a crash by Yuki Tsunoda brought out the red flag.
This controversial decision meant that all drivers had to abandon their laps and Alonso was unable to record a time after the session was halted.
The two-time world champion was particularly infuriated, claiming that the FIA had breached a verbal agreement between the teams.
Alonso said the FIA should have waved double yellows instead of red flags, which would have avoided penalising drivers who were farther down the track from the accident.
He told DAZN: “The truth is that sometimes the FIA gets it right, but sometimes they get it big wrong, and today the FIA got it wrong.”
“I was surprised when the red flag came out when I was in the last corner. There was an accident at Turn 8.” [five]Usually they always wait for the car to complete a lap. That’s ‘common sense’.”
Alonso was seen in his car, parked behind a car used in Pit’s new F1 film. Photo Credit: F1TVThe Aston Martin star was off the wheel when he heard the news. Photo Credit: F1TVAlonso was later helped out of the car in the pits, but the damage was already done. Photo Credit: F1TV
To make matters worse, the FIA mistakenly decided there would not be time to restart qualifying and directed several drivers into parc fermé.
Parc Fermé is French for “closed park” and is where the FIA checks the legality of cars and limits any additional work by team engineers.
Alonso was first ushered into a cordoned off area and on-board footage showed him pulling up behind a modified F2 car used in the filming of Hollywood actor Pitt’s F1 movie.
Alonso, who was speaking to media after the British Grand Prix and filming a scene for a film about 2025, took the reappearance as a cue to get out of the car.
The veteran pilot removed the handle and tried to escape the cockpit before officials frantically realised their mistake.
The debris from Tsunoda’s crash was cleared, giving the car time to return to the track and begin its final flying lap.
Alonso threw his jacket to the ground after qualifying. Photo: XHe then had a chat with FIA president Mohamed Ben Sulayem. Photo: Getty
Unfortunately, Alonso and team-mate Lance Stroll were in parc ferme and therefore could not take one last chance to change tyres like the other drivers.
He added: “When I went into the pits, Lance [Stroll] Myself and the driver were put into parc ferme, but when we got out of the car we were told that Q3 was going to start again.
“We got back in the car and fastened our seatbelts again, but we didn’t get out again because we had no tires.”
The incident left Alonso frustrated and he was later seen protesting at the referee on his way to the weigh-in.
Alonso ultimately qualified seventh and then failed to score any race points. Credit: Rex
Former Haas team boss Günther Steiner plays a word association game with F1 stars including Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen and talks about the best and worst moments of his career.
In a video shared on social media, Alonso, in true Hollywood diva fashion, is seen throwing her jacket and hat to the ground in disgust.
We’ll find out in June if the right cameras were watching him…
