“El Plan activated against Lando Norris”- Fernando Alonso intentionally slowed down to spoil McLaren drivers’ tyres at French GP

Fernando Alonso put in a brilliant performance at the French GP that saw Alpine overtake McLaren in the Constructors’ Standings. 

Alonso is one of the greatest F1 drivers of all time. The two-time World Champion made history at the Circuit Paul Ricard on Sunday when he became the driver to complete most laps in F1 history, overtaking Kimi Raikkonen.

In the race itself, he showed once again why he deserves to be in F1. The 40-year old finished P6, and held of both McLaren drivers to take his team ahead of the Woking outfit in the standings.

However, there was a point in the race where Lando Norris came dangerously close to the Spaniard. The latter’s race engineer let him know that his spot was in danger, only for him to calmly reassure him that he knew what he was doing.

Alonso told his team that he wanted Norris to come close, just so that his tyres give up. This would help Alonso’s teammate Esteban Ocon gain ground on Norris and teammate Daniel Ricciardo.

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Fernando Alonso wanted Lando Norris to be close to him

Ocon was ultimately not able to overtake both the McLaren drivers. However, he did manage to pass Ricciardo, to finish P7. This was a great finish for the Frenchman in his home race, particularly because he also got a five-second time penalty in the early stages of the race.

Fans were excited to see Alonso at his best yet again. The ‘El Plan‘ comments piled up on social media once again, praising the Oviedo born driver for his presence of mind while racing.

“No problem, I want them close behind me so they lose their tyres,” was what Alonso told his team when Norris came close to him.

Alpine struggled a little bit last year, as Ferrari and McLaren were comprehensively outperforming them. This season, Ferrari have made the jump into being a race winning team, but Alpine have made sure to work hard to match McLaren in terms of performance.

The Enstone based outfit are currently P4 in the Constructors’ Standings going into the Hungarian GP next weekend.

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