‘lift and coast‘. These are three words that no Formula 1 driver wants to hear, since it implies going much slower. But Fernando Alonso today has not escaped listening to them in the form of an imperative order from his engineer.
the asturian suffered a wear problem on the rear brakes very similar to the one you have had George Russell and that has forced him to retire. To prevent the situation from reproducing in his Aston Martin, Fernando had to resort to this driving technique.
The ‘lift and coast’ consists to lift your foot off the accelerator before reaching the point of braking, causing the car to lose speed before reaching the corner by taking advantage of the aerodynamic resistance. This achieves that the effort made by the brakes, and also the tires, is much less, so they hardly wear out.
However, use this resource makes the car much slower, since speed is lost when passing through the curve. In the case of Fernando Alonso in Canada meant a loss of about half a second per lap.
For this reason, the Asturian asked on the radio to be given permission to stop managing and start attacking Verstappen. “Tell me when I can stop lifting and coasting, I want to win this race“said Alonso. From that moment, Fernando Alonso had a free hand to go to the limit, but it was not enough to fight for victory.
