Fernando Alonso believes that the proposed changes suggested by the Formula 1 Strategy Group in a meeting last week act as proof that the sport has been going in the wrong direction in recent years.
At a meeting in England last week, representatives from six of the leading F1 teams plus the sport’s governing body, the FIA, and the commercial rights holder, F1 Group, agreed to seismic changes to the technical regulations for the 2017 season.
In a bid to make races more exciting, the Strategy Group agreed to reintroduce refuelling and make the cars more aggressive, believing that they could lap up to six seconds per lap quicker should these changes be implemented.
Speaking about the proposed changes ahead of this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix, Alonso questioned the direction that F1 is moving in given that it will be going back to its former self.
“I think if the rules comes back we will get the same rules as seven or eight years ago, which means the last four of five years we were going in the wrong direction,” the Spaniard said.
“In 2005, the cars were eight seconds quicker. In Malaysia, compare the winner this year to the winner in 2006, it could be six laps slower. When you are six or seven minutes quicker than this year’s car, that is very demanding, physically and mentally. Everything was pushed to the limit.”
The reintroduction of refuelling has been the most controversial change tabled by the Strategy Group, but Alonso is supportive of the move, believing that it would shake up the pecking order and strategies used by teams.
“[It] would open some strategy and imagination, and help you in some races if you can choose whatever fuel you will start or do the first stint on,” he said.
“It helped in the past, I managed to get some pole positions with half of the fuel of the others and then in the race you see what happens.
“If now you gave me a paper, I’d give you the grid for here, Canada and Austria. This is probably what fans are not welcoming.”
