Fernando Alonso thankful to avoid ‘massive crash’ after ‘super scary’ brake failure that ended his race in China

Fernando Alonso has explained the “super scary” brake failure that forced him to retire from the Chinese Grand Prix, with the two-time World Champion thankful to have avoided a potentially “massive crash” due to the issue.

After lining up in P13 for Sunday’s event in Shanghai, Alonso’s race soon came to an end when he experienced overheating brakes on his Aston Martin within the first few laps, meaning that he recorded his second DNF of the season on Lap 4.

Asked to explain what had happened later on, Alonso admitted that the problem could have potentially had greater ramifications had it occurred at a different area of the circuit.

“The brakes apparently were really hot since the beginning of the race, and then by Lap 3 or Lap 4 I went on the brakes in Turn 1 and the pedal went to the bottom of the chassis, and that was super scary,” said the Spaniard.

Chinese Grand Prix ends early for Alonso after 'super scary' brake failure

“Luckily Turn 1 is a corner that you just downshift and go into the corner. If that happens in Turn 14 or wherever, I think it could be a massive crash because I would take four or five cars in front of me out of the race.

“For an unlucky situation I think we were lucky today to [not] hit any car in front of us, and now let’s try to understand what happened and try to see the first chequered flag in Japan.”

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Alonso did manage to cross the line in Saturday’s Sprint, though missed out on points in P10. Pushed on whether there were positives to take from the pace displayed by the car in Shanghai, the 40-year-old reflected: “Probably. I think we have to see now in the race, especially with Lance [Stroll], what we can do.

“I think we were a little bit better than in Australia, I think in race pace, in the Sprint and hopefully today with Lance, and let’s try to keep improving the car.”

Stroll: ‘We have a lot to work on’

Speaking of Stroll, the Canadian ended the race in P11 on track but was later promoted to P9 following Ferrari’s double disqualification ahead, meaning that he took home two points for Aston Martin.

Before the post-race change to the classification, Stroll – who ran the longest opening stint on the hard tyre before switching to the mediums – commented: “I felt the race was coming to us after the first stint, but [on] the medium [there was] a lot of graining, and then I think the whole race just ended up being a one-stop for everybody, so that was that.”

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And when asked if it felt as if Aston Martin have made progress with their package across the weekend in China, the 26-year-old cautioned: “No, I think we have a lot to work on, for sure, if we want to finish in the points comfortably going forward.”

With 10 points to their name so far, the Silverstone-based outfit currently sit in P7 of the Teams’ standings.