The 2017 ‘precedent’
Fernando Alonso and Jolyon Palmer have a ‘common’ past that some F1 fans with a good memory will remember: in the 2017 season, during the Italian GP, Palmer – then a Renault driver – cut a chicane while fighting with Alonso and did not return the position to the Spaniard who – already frustrated by the poor performance of his McLaren – thundered furiously against his English colleague. “Palmer has to give me the position back – he said over the radio – what is he doing?“. Then, informed of the five-second penalty imposed on his rival, he said that the sanction was “a joke“, judging it insufficient. Later, when Alonso was told that Palmer had eventually retired from the GP, Alonso came out with the epic team radio in which he just said “karma!“.
Read more Genesis prepares for its debut in the WEC. Here are the Korean team’s liveries – GALLERY
Almost a decade later, Alonso is still in the car while Palmer has become an appreciated technical analyst for the official F1 website. In a recent episode of the F1 Nation podcast, the former Renault driver spoke about the serious technical crisis that the Aston Martin-Honda team is going through, sparing no harsh criticism and a ruthless comment (but unfortunately supported by the reality of the facts) regarding the two-time Asturian world champion.
Historic crisis, Alonso test driver
“In Japan they were very slow. Obviously they are solving the problems, but they had to make adjustments just to allow the car to finish the race. The situation is serious – Palmer underlined – what we are witnessing is one of the greatest failures in history. The Aston Martin can only finish a race if it travels with very little power to try to get some handling and reliability and they have managed to get only one car to the finish line after three Grands Prix. It’s terrible”.
Read more BMW i7, two weeks until the debut of the restyling
Palmer then focused on the Alonso’s situation although his words, more than a criticism of #14, seem rather to be a certification of his total helplessness: “For Fernando we are back to 2002 (when he was a third driver at Renault, ed.). He has returned to being a test driver after many years. This is Aston Martin at the moment. It’s a real shame they’re not competitive. At Suzuka, Fernando finished behind a Cadillac. They are really far behind. There is nothing at stake for either him or Stroll. Every weekend they show up on the track, drive around and report back comments. At this point, it doesn’t even matter anymore. Much of the work clearly lies with Honda and it doesn’t look like they’ll find a quick fix. Before the Japanese Grand Prix they still didn’t know what was causing the vibrations”, Palmer concluded. Will it depend on karma?
