Fernando Alonso and the “secret” (but not infallible) device against seat vibrations

Fernando Alonso’s back problems On Saturday he retired in the middle of the Sprint Race of the Canadian GP due to an unspecified “seat problem”. Yet, it is a sensitive component for the driving feeling of a Formula 1 driver – literally the only one, together with the steering wheel and pedals, which allows you to stay in contact with the chassis and “feel” the behavior of the car – with which Fernando Alonso has had more than a few difficulties for some time now. In fact, the Spanish driver has spoken several times in recent years about his back ailments, probably even more exacerbated this season by the well-known high-speed vibrations caused by the difficult integration between his Aston Martin and the Honda power unit. To the point that engineers designed a secret system of lumbar supports for him to help him tolerate the pain. Click here to add Formula Passion as your favorite source on Google Discover: you will find our content more easily! The secret of the Aston Martin seat Of course, these are still F1 cars, which travel at over 300 per hour just a few centimeters from the asphalt, but the newspaper Marca with correspondent Marco Canseco managed to identify the existence of a system of… “inflatable bearings” positioned between Alonso’s back and the carbon fiber seat. According to what was reported by the Spanish newspaper, Fernando would have been using a special inflatable lumbar support system since he arrived at Aston Martin which is inflated via small tubes that would have been seen inside the garage, and then probably adjusted with a knob similar to those used in common blood pressure monitors. This is how the two-time world champion would try to relieve his back pain. The system is, however, imperfect, as is almost natural for a rudimentary device that inflates air cushions positioned between the driver and the seat: this would be the reason why the mechanics have to adjust the lumbar supports “by hand” every time Fernando Alonso gets into the car (and therefore at least once per session), not to mention the vibrations, the curbs, the roughness and the depressions of the track which inevitably lead the secret bearings to move even by those few millimeters which are decisive to cause more pain for the 44 year old from Oviedo. “Putting an end to the suffering” According to Canseco’s article, this would therefore be the reason for withdrawing from the Montreal Sprint Race, with Alonso himself admitting that he accepted the team’s request to withdraw given that he was far from the points zone and without any particular chance of getting closer. “Yes, we had this problem with the seat, because unfortunately I feel more and more uncomfortable as the laps go by. The position is not comfortable and we were out of the points, quite far from the points and without a threat of rain in sight. So we decided to put an end to the suffering”, concluded Fernando Alonso to Marca.

Automobile Magazine – F1 English News , 2026-05-27 03:30:00