The wrapping of a sandwich finished in the ventilation duct of a rear brake forced Fernando Alonso to retire from the Qatar GP, when he hoped to be able to score points with his Alpine in the first race after his return to Formula 1. The a curious incident was discovered only when the team technicians began to analyze the causes of the sudden overheating of the system that had led the team to call the Spaniard back to the pits for safety reasons.
"After his first stop we had a small problem that forced us to reduce the performance of the car - explained the executive director of Alpine, Marcin Budkowski, according to what is reported by 'Marca' -. Then after the second stop, a card from The oven got stuck in the rear brake duct, raising the temperatures and causing damage to the braking system, so we had it retired for safety reasons. It was a very unfortunate first race for Fernando considering how strong he looked. "
After the race, the Spaniard was obviously disappointed with the retirement but still satisfied with the Alpine's performance: "I think it will be a competitive season and also very interesting to watch. We will be back, and we will fight hard in Imola."