Two-time World Champion Fernando Alonso was very critical of Formula 1 and the FIA following the heavily interrupted opening day of the Canadian Grand Prix, where he slammed them for not having a “Plan B”.
Free Practice 1 was essentially cancelled at the Circuit de Gilles-Villeneuve on Friday, with the session having been red flagged after just a handful of minutes.
FP1 was red flagged in the first place after Pierre Gasly came to a halt; however, the session was never resumed due to a CCTV issue.
The CCTV issue was a clear safety concern, given that it was causing delays on the live feed.
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It meant that it wasn’t discovered that Gasly had come to a halt until several seconds later, due to the CCTV issues.
The drivers and the fans had to watch on as the timer ticked to zero, under red flag conditions.
To make up for some of the lost time, Free Practice 2 was extended to 90 minutes, rather than 60.
It was nevertheless a “shame”, with Alonso having been frustrated to see F1 “shooting” themselves in the foot.
Alonso admitted that he wasn’t able to make up for lost time in the extended FP2, in what was an “embarrassing” day for the pinnacle of motorsport.
“No, not at all, and it was a shame,” Alonso said, as reported by PlanetF1.com.
“I think it was not ideal for the teams, but mostly it was for the fans, you know, that they came very early to the circuit and we were not able to run in FP1.
“So, yeah, from time to time it seems that we are shooting [ourselves] in our feet, you know, as a sport. So these things are a little bit embarrassing.”
Alonso eventually ended FP2 in fourth and just under four tenths behind pacesetter Lewis Hamilton, in what was a day where relatively little was learnt.
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The red flagged FP1 clearly frustrated Alonso, given that Aston Martin have introduced a series of significant upgrades in Montreal.
He admitted that he “didn’t have time” to properly gain an understanding of the team’s upgrades, due to F1 and the FIA not having a “plan B”.
“Well, we didn’t have time,” Alonso said, “because FP1 unfortunately the cameras or whatever of the circuit didn’t work and we didn’t have a plan B as all these times in this sport.”