“Surprised” Fernando Alonso Once Teased Former Team Ferrari F1 Over “Strange Strategy”

Ferrari’s strategies for their races have always been a serious bone of contention among the fans. After every race, there was a debate on the internet dissecting Ferrari’s latest strategy and whether it was a blunder. But, at the Belgian Grand Prix, fans were not the only ones commenting on Ferrari’s strategy. Alpine’s Fernando Alonso also offered a brief remark on the subject.

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Charles Leclerc finished P5 at the Belgian Grand Prix, with Fernando Alonso right behind him. However, Leclerc was later awarded a penalty for speeding in the pitlanes, dropping him down to P6.

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Alonso already had a brush with Lewis Hamilton in the beginning, resulting in some snarky comments that blew up the internet. The ending of the same race was not without Alonso making cheeky statements again.

At the start of the penultimate lap, as the Alpine driver was rounding the opening corner, he saw Leclerc emerging from the pits. Charles Leclerc had stopped for fresh tires, which would have been a good strategy, but alas, the Ferrari was overtaken by Alonso.

This led to a last-minute tussle over the fifth position between the two, which ended in Leclerc getting the penalty. Asked if he was surprised to see Leclerc pit so late, Fernando Alonso told Sky Sports: “Yeah I was surprised.”

“But Ferrari always does some strange strategy, so that was one of those,” added Alonso with a wry smile.

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As a former Ferrari driver, Alonso is in a better position than most to comment on his previous team’s ways. And of course, that includes some allowance for teasing and joking around about it.

Fernando Alonso criticizes Alpine’s strategy in the Japanese GP

However, it is not only other teams that Alonso has a critical opinion of. The two-time World Drivers’ Championship winner recently spoke about his own team, Alpine’s performance at the Japanese Grand Prix.

Alonso finished P7 at Suzuka, meanwhile, his teammate, Esteban Ocon, finished P4.

Formula One F1 – Belgian Grand Prix – Spa-Francorchamps, Spa, Belgium – August 25, 2022 Alpine’s Fernando Alonso during a press conference ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix REUTERS/Stephane Mahe

Speaking about the strategy used by Alpine at Suzuka, Alonso considered that they made “the wrong choices” throughout.

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“The strategy didn’t work for us,” said Alonso. “We made the wrong choices continuously. First, we stopped the last to put the intermediates, we lost places.”

“Then we stopped too late for the second stop with six laps to the end, and I just finished in the same place that I was. I was asking to pit earlier on both occasions, but today my microphone maybe didn’t work.”

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WATCH THIS STORY: Lewis Hamilton & Fernando Alonso Are the Last Men Standing As Sebastian Vettel Exit Marks the End of Iconic F1 Era

As Alonso acknowledges the mistakes made at Suzuka, one can only hope that they will come back stronger in Austin this weekend.