“Fans Would Have Taken Their Pants Down”- Fernando Alonso Aston Martin Blunder Sheds Light on Hypocrisy Towards Ferrari’s Strategies

Fernando Alonso lost out on his 33rd race win in Monaco after a mistake made by the Aston Martin strategists. According to many fans and pundits, had this been Ferrari costing Charles Leclerc a victory, they would have never heard the end of it.

Max Verstappen was performing on a whole other level at the Monaco GP last week. The Red Bull ace took the pole and led the race from the very get-go. However, when the rain started to pour down, Alonso was presented with an opportunity to pass the Dutchman with the correct strategy.

Alonso: “When it rained more, we stopped for the intermediates and we were second in Monaco, which is incredible, but people look at what we did potentially wrong, it’s something incredible.”

SoyMotor

— Junaid #JB17 (@JunaidSamodien_) June 1, 2023

Alonso was on hards, and had he pitted for intermediate tyres before Verstappen, he would have stayed in front of him in the closing stages of the race. Aston Martin, however, decided to put medium compound tyres into his car. This was a baffling strategy blunder, as the rain was getting heavier every minute. Soon, Alonso had to pit once again to put on intermediates, which cost him a lot of time and a potential race win.

Former F1 driver Jolyon Palmer, however, pointed out that, had Ferrari made a similar mistake with Leclerc or Carlos Sainz, the fans would have been at their throats for a long time.

Aston Martin moved on from Fernando Alonso blunder; Ferrari could never

There was some backlash after the conclusion of the Monaco GP aimed at the Aston Martin strategists. Fernando Alonso too, didn’t seem particularly happy with how things unfolded in those closing stages. Still, a while later, all was forgotten and even Alonso seemed very pleased with his P2 result in the end.

Palmer feels that had it been Ferrari making a similar mistake, the backlash would have increased tenfold. Fans on social media seemed to agree with Palmer, with many people adding statements to support what he said.

Man….@JolyonPalmer is absolutely spot on. If #FerrariF1 has made that mistake, like #AstonMartinF1 did with putting #FernandoAlonso on slicks at the #MonacoGP, fans would have taken their pants down. Aston made a mistake. Cost Fernando the win. Admit it, work on it and move-on!…

— CHEQUERED FLAG 🏁 (@cfmagindia) June 2, 2023

Chequered Flag on Twitter posted that Jolyon Palmer was “spot on” with his hypotheses. “Fans would have taken their [Ferrari’s] pants down,” they wrote. The general opinion was of the fact that Aston Martin accepted their mistake, vowed to work on it, and moved on.

Ferrari’s reputation of having horrendous strategists

There is a reason why fans give the Ferrari team a hard time when it comes to mistakes with strategy. Over the years, they have made some huge blunders, costing them wins and world championships. Last year in particular, Charles Leclerc lost out on race wins on multiple occasions towards the start of the season because of Ferrari’s mistakes.

From ill-timed pit-stops to wrong tyre compounds to failed double-stack attempts, something always seems to go wrong at Ferrari. Many fans also feel that their habit of making mistakes was what cost them the world championship last year.

Aston Martin meanwhile, have no such reputation. As a result, making one mistake with Fernando Alonso probably didn’t upset them as much as Ferrari making one could’ve. Alonso now heads into his home race weekend, the Spanish GP, aiming to finally get his 33rd race win.