{"id":104179,"date":"2025-08-29T12:12:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-29T12:12:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/104179\/"},"modified":"2025-08-29T12:12:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T12:12:09","slug":"jenson-couldnt-do-what-fernando-did","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/104179\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cJenson couldn\u2019t do\u201d what Fernando did"},"content":{"rendered":"

20 years ago, Fernando Alonso<\/a> was engaged in a thrilling championship run-in with Kimi Raikkonen<\/a>, and a young tyre engineer with a bright future was about to join Alonso\u2019s Renault team.<\/p>\n

Ayao Komatsu had got his F1 break working for BAR-Honda\u2019s test team in a high-spending era where leading manufacturer-backed organisations had two windtunnels running continuously and fully manned test squads operating in parallel with the race team throughout the season. That involved him working with the likes of Jenson Button<\/a>, Takuma Sato<\/a> and test driver Anthony Davidson<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In 2005 BAR-Honda\u2019s upwards trajectory was interrupted by a scandal involving a secondary fuel tank which caused the team to be disqualified from the San Marino Grand Prix and banned for two further races. At the end of the season Komatsu changed up, moving to Alonso\u2019s Renault team and working with the newly crowned world champion himself.<\/p>\n

Button\u2019s championship \u2013 indeed, his maiden grand prix victory \u2013 lay in the future at that point. For Komatsu, working with an established great was a formative experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cBack then, I was a tyre engineer on the test team,\u201d Komatsu told reporters during the 2025 Dutch GP weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the year before, I was at BAR Honda doing the same job, working with people like Jenson Button, mainly. Anthony [Davidson] was there as well.<\/p>\n

\"Fernando <\/p>\n

Fernando Alonso, Renault celebrates his victory with the team<\/p>\n

Photo by: Sutton Images<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I came to Renault in 2006, of course we did the initial tyre selection with the test drivers. But final sign-off, quite often, we did it with race drivers, especially Fernando.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s just another level. Completely another level. Knowing that if you give him this tyre and say, \u2018OK, we need you to do, let’s say, an 18-lap stint. The last three laps, I want to be able to go at this pace \u2013 but just completely use up the tyre by the in-lap.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cJenson couldn’t do that. Miles from it. He really couldn’t. That was when I saw there was a limit, even for a Formula 1 driver… Fernando, I don’t know how he does it.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe knows how much is left on the tyre, so he will drive it at a certain level \u2013 and the last three laps, he just goes bang, bang, bang. In-lap sector two\u00a0\u2013 the tyre is dead.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just totally another level. And I thought, \u2018Wow, this is a world champion.\u2019 That was a huge eye-opener for me. It was a pleasure to work with him, it was amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finding grip when others can\u2019t<\/p>\n

Beyond his ability to gauge the spare capacity of the rubber in dry conditions, Alonso also excelled in identifying the precise levels of available grip during the transition from wet to dry and back again. Komatsu highlighted the 2006 Chinese GP \u2013 ultimately won by Michael Schumacher<\/a> in a Bridgestone-shod Ferrari<\/a> \u2013 as an example of Alonso\u2019s confidence on Renault\u2019s Michelin rubber.<\/p>\n

\"Ayao <\/p>\n

Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal of Haas<\/p>\n

Photo by: Peter Fox \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cShanghai race, he [Alonso] made a call to come in for slicks,\u201d said Komatsu. \u201cWe all thought it was too early. But he can make it work.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe’s the sort of driver who’s got confidence in the condition and tyres \u2013 straight out of pitlane, he can push the tyre to get it started. That was amazing.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut then, we pitted his team-mate [Giancarlo Fisichella<\/a>], I can’t remember if it was one lap later, two laps later, much better conditions. But he [Fisichella] was just a bit more tentative out of pitlane.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen just couldn’t get on the positive spiral. He lost so much time.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is a slightly rose-tinted recollection since by that point Alonso was in recovery mode after Renault had made the call to put new intermediates on the front axle only during Fernando\u2019s first stop. That and a sticking wheel nut when he came in for slicks put paid to Alonso\u2019s chance of victory.<\/p>\n

Fisichella was leading and stopped six laps later \u2013 but lost it to Schumacher by being too tentative into Turn 1 on his out-lap. By the end of the race, Alonso had made up a 10-second deficit and passed his team-mate for second place.<\/p>\n

\"Fernando <\/p>\n

Fernando Alonso, Renault R26 leads Giancarlo Fisichella, Renault R26 and Michael Schumacher, Ferrari 248 F1<\/p>\n

Photo by: Sutton Images<\/p>\n

Alonso\u2019s capacity to read a race \u2013 not just what is happening immediately around him, but elsewhere \u2013\u00a0came into sharp focus during the Canadian Grand Prix, where Fernando had a 25-second lead on Raikkonen in the closing stages when Jacques Villeneuve<\/a> clattered into the \u2018Wall of Champions\u2019 at the exit of Turn 13.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe just told us, \u2018Oh, get ready, it’s going to be a Safety Car\u2019,\u201d said Komatsu. \u201cWe had no idea how he managed to know that. And he told us later, he was leading the race, he got bored, and he was watching the race on the big screens.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe saw this massive shunt and he knew we hadn’t seen it. So, he just told us. I mean, how much spare capacity have you got left?\u201d<\/p>\n

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