The crash with involved, above all, Nico Hulkbenberg, Fernando Alonso and Charles Leclerc is still at the centre of the debate here in Monza, especially about how the Halo saved Charles Leclerc from serious injuries.

“It’s difficult to be 100% sure, but I would like not to even think where my front tyre could have gone on Charles without the Halo. The head, the hands, or other, it’s good to have the halo, it did its job and I think we all should be happy to have it.” Says Alonso, who now has to face several changes on his McLaren.

“The chassis is gone. I have a new chassis unfortunately, the one I used in winter testing, I used it already. For the engine side, we think it is okay, but we will only know tomorrow in FP1. There were some concerns on Sunday, but during this week they checked everything, and it seems okay.

“The floor, front wings, other limited parts are all gone, it was quite expensive.”

The consequences of the impact did not only affect his MCL33, but himself too.

“It was not too bad, the only painful day was Tuesday I had a little bit of pain on the back, but right now it’s all okay. I still feel some kind of heat on the hands, as I had them on the steering wheel when I touched Leclerc, but everyday the pain is less.”

The expectations on Spa and Monza from McLaren were high, as the two high speed track do not suit the Papaya car, which is already suffering this season.

“Spa and Monza are the most un-performing weekends of the calendar for us and I don’t think the situation will change dramatically for us, so this race it’s gonna be tough. We’ll try to limit the damage here and hopefully we’ll find some wet qualifying or race that can give us an opportunity.”

“During the impact I just thought that my race was over, and I was worried about the car and all the penalties we could get.” Continued the Spaniard. “These two races were important for us: we decided to not change the engine in Spa to not hit penalty and benefit from starting P14 now we have to change everything and hit penalty here or later on.”

The 2018 Italian Grand Prix will be the last for Fernando Alonso, who is leaving Formula 1 at the end of the season. He brought Ferrari on the highest spot of the podium here for the last time in 2010. The McLaren drivers has a lot of Italy in his career history, so this is going to be a special one for him.

“To win in Monza as a Ferrari driver is a special feeling, all the wins are special, but in Monza probably a little bit more, because of the podium celebrations, the circuit full of people. I think it’s special for every driver. I have good memories here.”

 “I still didn’t met the fan, it will be special to have this last moment with the tifosi. I have lots of links with Italy: I raced here in GoKarts, in F3, I started in Minardi, Flavio Briatore, Ferrari and living in Maranello, lots of friends, my girlfriend is Italian, so the last Italian Grand Prix will be very special.”

Monza selfie. Questo sarà il mio ultimo GP di Italia F1. Qui sono cresciuto in go kart,con il Team Minardi🇮🇹 ho debuttato in F1, con Flavio🇮🇹 ho vinto campionati dil mondo, e abbiamo lottato per il mondiale 5 anni incredibili in Ferrari🇮🇹.Grazie Italia.Grazie Monza❤️🇮🇹 pic.twitter.com/eEFv96gVOW

— Fernando Alonso (@alo_oficial) 30 agosto 2018 ">

Monza selfie. Questo sarà il mio ultimo GP di Italia F1. Qui sono cresciuto in go kart,con il Team Minardi🇮🇹 ho debuttato in F1, con Flavio🇮🇹 ho vinto campionati dil mondo, e abbiamo lottato per il mondiale 5 anni incredibili in Ferrari🇮🇹.Grazie Italia.Grazie Monza❤️🇮🇹 pic.twitter.com/eEFv96gVOW

— Fernando Alonso (@alo_oficial) 30 agosto 2018