Alonso likens Suzuka to uneventful Monaco, amid overtaking drought

Fernando Alonso has in contrast Suzuka to Monaco when it comes to being a Method 1 race that’s principally gained on a Saturday throughout qualifying.

Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix noticed a dearth of overtaking because the spectacle did not spark into an entertaining race with Max Verstappen profitable from pole.

It’s one thing that has develop into a problem in recent times at Suzuka in the identical means that Monaco has been highlighted as a race the place success is set by a driver’s beginning place.

F1 can be hoping the Monaco subject is now set to be solved after it launched two obligatory pitstops for the 2025 grand prix.

However Alonso, who completed eleventh for Aston Martin on Sunday, fears Suzuka might have now gone the identical means because the race in Monte Carlo.

“That is Suzuka, I don’t bear in mind a race after we noticed too many overtakes right here with out the climate altering,” mentioned the two-time F1 world champion.

Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin Racing

Photograph by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Pictures

“It looks like we repeat all the time on Thursday, how nice Suzuka is, how nice Monaco is, the glamour, the spectacular weekend.

“After which on Sunday, we get up and we are saying: ‘Monaco is boring. What can we do to the observe?’ ‘Suzuka is boring.’ That is Method 1, and Suzuka is nice, as a result of Saturday is extremely excessive adrenaline.”

Talking after the race, Ferrari boss Frederic Vasseur mentioned this season may develop into a “quali world championship” if the development of struggling to overhaul seen in each China and Japan continues.

In what’s the ultimate 12 months of the present rules, there has not solely been a convergence in automobile design however concurrently groups have additionally discovered methods round guidelines that have been initially launched to advertise extra overtaking.

Throughout 2024 there have been 70 fewer overtakes than a 12 months earlier, regardless of there being two additional grands prix. All 4 races in 2025 in the meantime (three grands prix and one dash) have been gained from pole.

Possibly one cease was not the race that we have been hoping for,” added Alonso on Sunday’s grand prix. “Previously with a number of stops, perhaps the tyres are totally different however when we do not have grip, we complain that there isn’t a grip and when we’ve got too many stops.

“We complain the tyres do not final, so as an alternative of seeing the destructive a part of the weekend I attempt to take pleasure in what we skilled this weekend.”

Suzuka started an F1 triple-header with this weekend being the Bahrain Grand Prix forward of Saudi Arabia subsequent week. 

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