F1 confusion: Alonso livid after Hungarian GP confusion involving Brad Pitt’s upcoming film

Fernando Alonso expressed his frustrations with F1’s governing body, the FIA, after an error saw him and his Aston Martin teammate, Lance Stroll, mistakenly called into the pit lane early after a red-flag crash involving Yuki Tsunoda.

The two Aston Martin drivers were the first drivers that arrived in the pit lane and were called into ‘parc ferme’. They waited there until they were notified that the call to the pit was a mistake and the drivers could return to their cars; however, they lost momentum and focus due to the delay, and Alonso was not able to continue due to a lack of fresh tyres. Despite “hundreds” of apologies from FIA officials, Alonso’s frustration was evident as he was seen throwing his race jacket aside after he was notified of the mistake.

Parc Ferme

Parc Ferme is a French term in F1 referring to a secure area off of the circuit where before and after races, cars are checked to make sure they are within F1 rules. While Alonso and Stroll were out of their cars, believing the race to be suspended, they were informed they could return to the track to finish their qualifier despite only two minutes remaining in the stage. Alonso could not, however, as he and his team had already used up their supply of fresh ‘soft’ tyres.

The 42-year-old Asturian was setting a blistering time in the third and final stage of his qualification for the upcoming Hungarian GP when Yuki Tsunoda’s crash took place, and the FIA indicated a red flag, which is normally reserved for very bad crashes or poor weather, which calls the race off. Alonso claimed in his post-race interview that given the fact that he was ahead of the crash, he should have been allowed to finish his lap and then come into the pit.

“The truth is that the FIA sometimes gets it right and sometimes they make gross mistakes. Today they had made one.” said Alonso in an interview with DAZN “They put out the red flag when I was in the last corner, which is surprising. There was an accident at turn eight [five]. Normally, they always wait for the cars to complete the lap. It’s the ‘spoken norm’.”

Brad Pitt’s new film

Further complicating the incident was a rumour that began to spread on social media involving broadcasted footage from Alonso’s car cam showing the Aston Martin car parked behind a ‘fake’ F1 car, painted in a black and white livery and sporting an ‘APX’ sponsor on the spoiler.

This confused viewers as APX is not a real F1 racing team, instead, the car is being used for the ongoing production of Brad Pitt’s newest film, ‘F1’. Alonso, in fact, will feature in the film, but not in the capacity seen on Sunday. The two-time world champion driver will be featured in a scene set in a press conference in the film set to premiere in 2025.

Due to the mistake, Alonso ended up qualifying in the seventh position, resulting in an 11th-place finish outside the points threshold in the Hungarian GP.