Aston Martin’s Alonso joins critics of hybrid Formula One

Speaking ahead of this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix, the two-time world champion, now with the struggling and under-powered Aston Martin team, accused F1 of pushing hybrid technology at the expense of the sport’s traditional raw power appeal.

In hitting out at the controversial “new era” formula introduced this year, which has frustrated drivers who have to manage power loads in cars using a 50-50 split engine power and electric power, he has joined four-time world champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull and others.

“The DNA of these power units will be always the same,” he said, when asked if a move to a 60-40 split in favour of engines. “And it will always reward going slow in the corners.”

This was a reference by Alonso to the need for drivers to conserve energy while racing, which  many feel is fundamentally wrong for the sport.

He blamed Formula One for moving towards hybrid power in 2014.

“The thing that the world went, or thought, to go into was the electrification, and that was thought to be the future…But it doesn’t apply to racing.

“Racing is a different animal. Now, we go a little bit back to this 60-40 and then in the future to less and less.

“But, unfortunately, we had this period from 2014, with the turbo era and now even more, when we lost a little bit, nearly one decade or even more, of pure racing.”

Many drivers have grumbled at the need for “super-clipping’ and lift-and-coast practices to manage energy and power in the car when they wanted to race without any inhibitions.

Alonso said this has resulted this season in artificial overtaking and artificial racing.