Illness forces Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin to miss F1 Mexican GP media duties on Thursday
Fernando Alonso is set to miss the media duties of the F1 Mexican GP as the Spaniard is not feeling well. Thursday is supposed to be the day for media duties but with Alonso under the weather, the Aston Martin driver looks set to miss them.
The driver has had a rough last few races as the upgrades brought by Aston Martin have just not worked. The car has regressed week in and week out, and that's just not a good sign for Alonso, who has seen the machinery under him consistently lose performance. Coming into the F1 Mexican GP, Alonso was going to miss FP1 anyway as Felipe Drugovich was going to be in the car.
The illness means that Fernando is going to miss Thursday followed by Friday's FP1, before he makes a return in the car in FP2. In the statement issued by Aston Martin, it read:
"Fernando Alonso is feeling unwell and will therefore not attend media day at the Mexico City Grand Prix. Fernando is focused on feeling 100% for Friday and his planned return to the AMR24 for Free Practice 2."
Fernando Alonso comes into the F1 Mexican GP race weekend on the back of a very disappointing race weekend in Austin where the Spaniard started the race in top 10 but finished outside of points.
Carlos Sainz praises Fernando Alonso ahead of his 400th race
Fernando Alonso's Spanish counterpart and F1 racer Carlos Sainz also congratulated the driver on his 400th race. Alonso will be competing this weekend in his 400th race and Sainz remembered how he used to watch his idol race in F1 when he was just 9 to 10 years of age. He told Motorsportweek:
“It is crazy to me to think when I was growing up, nine, 10 years old, he was already in F1 and now that I turned 30 myself, he’s still in Formula 1. He’s still here because he wants it and he has so much talent and speed still at his age that he can allow himself to keep choosing about what to do with his future and with his life, which in a competitive field of 19 other very hungry younger drivers, that says a lot from him."
He added:
“From my side, I have a very good example at home with my dad, still winning Dakars at 61, 62, so I know what it takes to have at home someone that is still hungry and very motivated about what he does."
The driver will be hoping for a stronger weekend this time around. Aston Martin has been struggling extensively when it comes to extracting the best from the package and how to improve the car. Until that is figured out, the team cannot sustain growth on the front.