Ashwinv16 wrote: ↑29 Mar 2026, 08:47
Well Alonso finished the race but i think he just did it cause its Japan and Honda. Any other track and he would have retired.
Alonso hates being lapped, he finds it embarrassing. This is in opposition to Honda who think it's a badge of honor to finish, even if it's 3 laps down. If it wasn't for the saftey car, he would have been lapped twice. It took them 25 laps to lap Alonso.
Alonso's onboards look great, the car is really balanced, well planted and well behaved. Just like you expect a F1 car to handle going 3 seconds a lap slower than it's limit. Basically looking at the onboards are a waste of time, most of the time.
Before Stroll retired, it was interesting to hear them playing around with different PU modes into Turns 13–14. They were trying modes 6, then 5, then a single click for a boost up the back straight, and then a double click for more boost down to Turn 1. It didn’t seem to be working all the time.
Alonso was taking one hand off the steering wheel down the back straight. I don't think it had anything to do with the vibrations cause he kept taking the right hand off. I'd expect him to be switching hand if it was because the vibrations were a problem. Unless they bother his right hand more than the left but I doudt that. Could be because they were just going so slow, he didn't need both.
