Alonso hoped to outsmart FIA by saying nothing on radio

F1 News

11 July 2022 at 11:52
Last update 12 July 2022 at 10:07
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  • GPblog.com

Fernando Alonso was very secretive on the radio when he came back in on lap 59 immediately after his pit stop on lap 58. The Spaniard felt vibration, but did not tell his team why exactly he came back into the pits.

Three pit stops for Alonso

Alonso came in on lap 58 for his second and what appeared to be his last pit stop. Nothing proved to be further from the truth, as a lap later, the Alpine driver found himself back at his pit crew. After his pit stop on lap 58, he immediately sounded: "Box again," quoted over the radio by SoyMotor.com. His engineer was taken aback and asked: "Okay, what's the issue?" Alonso replied shortly: "Box again"

In his outlap on lap 58, Alonso immediately felt vibrations in the car, leading him to believe something was wrong. The wily Alonso wanted to avoid a penalty for potentially misfitting one of his tyres and therefore kept quiet about the problem. Only when he got to his team did he say to his engineer: "Check the left front tyre." The video clearly shows that Alonso's left front wheel was not properly secured and that it loosened slightly after turn three.

No penalty handed out

Alonso's silence seemed clever, but the FIA had long since realised what was going on. After an inspection, however, the FIA concluded that all safety systems were working. As a result, no penalties were handed out to Alonso or his team.