Fernando Alonso is known for devising bold and daring strategies on track to gain an advantage. During the 2023 Miami GP, he made an unusual radio call to his team which left everyone scratching their heads.
Whilst chasing his 4th podium of the season, the 2x world champion muttered on the radio, “Plan A, Minus 12.” While many were left confused, the driver later admitted it was a stupid mistake. Nevertheless, Max Verstappen did not stop poking fun at the 42-year-old driver for an unusual strategy call.
Max Verstappen takes a dig at Alonso for a radio mistake
Alonso was asked to clarify his cryptic radio call during the post-race press conference. The ridiculous call by the Spaniard left Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez in stitches.
The Dutchman however poked some fun at the 42-year-old to gain more clarity into Alonso’s masterplan. Verstappen asked, “Plan A-12. 12 laps short of pits?” leaving Alonso laughing at his error.
The Aston Martin driver later clarified, “I did a mistake! I was just telling them which lap I think the tire will be in good shape before the stop. And then yeah, I make a mistake, because Plan A-12 was already gone a few laps before that.”
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Alonso claimed that the Aston Martin pit wall was confused upon hearing his suggestion. Though, they noticed the Spaniard’s mistake and started laughing, which made the driver realize his error.
He added, “A few seconds later I said sorry, they were already laughing on the radio. So they realized I was telling something stupid.”
Fernando Alonso calls Miami GP a ‘lonely race’
Alonso was heard congratulating his teammate Lance Stroll on the team radio. Alonso spotted his Canadian teammate overtaking Alex Albon on the outside of turn 1 to move to P13. He immediately praised his teammate on the radio and checked his position in the race.
The Spaniard told afterward that he managed to watch Stroll’s move on one of the grandstand TV screens while he was racing. “I think this circuit we have big TV screens out of some of the slow-speed corners so it was very easy to follow the race on TV.”
Racer. Life coach. TV addict.@alo_oficial kept a watchful eye over team mate @lance_stroll during Sunday’s race! 📺🍿#MiamiGP #F1 @AstonMartinF1 pic.twitter.com/Xb4ROcwN6E
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 8, 2023
While F1 fans were impressed by the driver’s ability, the 2x world champion claims he was rather bored with the race by then. “It was a little bit of an unexpected lonely race for us. We were thinking to have a more difficult race.”
Alonso finished P3 in the race, claiming his 4th podium in the first 5 races of the season. He is 3rd in the championship with 75 points. marking his best season since he left Ferrari in 2013.
