Breaking: 4 F1 drivers including Fernando Alonso set to start US Grand Prix from pit lane
Ahead of the United States GP, both the Aston Martin and Haas F1 teams have announced their drivers will start from the pit lane after failing to get the right setup with the new upgrades during the sprint weekend.
Both teams had introduced a raft of upgrades but only had one practice session on Friday (October 20) to test the new parts. The one-hour practice session was followed by the qualifying session for the Grand Prix, where both the Aston Martin drivers and Nico Hulkenberg were knocked out in the first session.
Kevin Magnussen had qualified 14th while his teammate Hulkenberg was 16th on the time sheet. Fernando Alonso was knocked out for the first time in the Q1 session this season as he qualified 17th, two spots ahead of his teammate Lance Stroll.
Following the disappointing Sprint results on Saturday (October 21), the Haas F1 team has decided to change the setup of both cars to learn more about the upgrades as revealed by journalist Chris Medland. The changes done to the setup in parc ferme conditions mean the drivers have to start in the pit lane.
"Both Haas drivers will start from the pit lane today," Medland wrote on X. "Team wants to change set-up that was clearly wrong yesterday to learn more about the upgraded car."
Aston Martin will also revert to its Qatar GP spec car with Fernando Alonso while Lance Stroll will continue to run the upgrades with additional setup changes. This presents an opportunity for the team to see the difference between new upgrades and the old spec car.
On Sprint Saturday, Alonso finished 13th while Lance Stroll had to retire due to brake issues. Both Haas F1 drivers also had a forgettable outing as Nico Hulkenberg finished 15th and Kevin Magnussen finished 18th at the end of the 19-lap sprint race.
With the last-minute changes in the starting order for the US GP, Daniel Ricciardo starts P14, followed by Williams drivers Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant. The starting order in the pit lane is - Magnussen, Hulkenberg, Alonso, and Stroll.
Fernando Alonso already looking forward to the Mexico F1 GP after a chaotic start to the US GP
Following a chaotic FP1 session where Aston Martin failed to understand its new upgrades, Fernando Alonso hoped to wrap up the weekend and was looking forward to the Mexico GP.
Alonso also added that the team took the risk of bringing the upgrades in a sprint weekend as they could wait until the Mexico GP as they are in a battle for P4 in the F1 Constructors' standings with McLaren.
"We were uncompetitive in FP1, in qualifying and in the Sprint. The car as been in parc ferme since FP1 and maybe we are not optimised in terms of set-up. It was also a bit risky to bring the upgrades to a Sprint weekend as you rely so much on a perfect FP1 with two cars doing different tests between the two," Fernando Alonso was quoted as saying by RacingNews365.com.
"We had a very chaotic FP1 and since then have been on the backfoot. I wish we go to Mexico soon, we have three free practices to test many things on the car and hopefully be more competitive, it is painful," he added.
F1 heads to Mexico City next weekend.