It was undoubtedly an eventful start to the Belgian Grand Prix for Fernando Alonso. He started P3 but made contact with Lewis Hamilton just moments into the race and would eventually finish fifth, after a post-race penalty for Charles Leclerc.
On top of all of that, one moment left him a little rather puzzled towards the end of the Belgian Grand Prix.
Ferrari decided to pit fifth-place Charles Leclerc on Lap 42/44, for a used set of softs, in an attempt to get the fastest lap of the race. However, he came out just ahead of Alonso, who managed to overtake him only moments later 😮
Leclerc eventually got past and secured fifth position but without the fastest lap!
Team radio before Leclerc pitted even showed that Charles wasn’t happy with the idea.
“I will not risk it this time,” he told the Ferrari team. “But if you really want to try it… I will not risk it.”
They’re pitting Leclerc in an attempt for fastest lap, but Alonso has passed him 😳😳 #BelgianGP
— WTF1 (@wtf1official) August 28, 2022
Moments later, he was instructed to “box now box”, which he did, but was penalised five seconds for speeding in the pit lane – something Leclerc has accepted the blame for.
Speaking to Sky F1 about if he was shocked to see Ferrari gamble and pit Leclerc for fastest lap, Alonso had a cheeky reply on standby.
“Yeah, I was surprised, but Ferrari always does some strange strategy, so that was one of those.”
Love how even ex-Ferrari drivers are poking fun at Ferrari’s strategies now.
Should Ferrari have made the gamble? Let us know in the comments.
