Alonso ‘would have been vocal on the radio’ if Leclerc did that to him – Vasseur

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Fernando Alonso would have been vocal in his criticism of another driver if they committed the same move he did during the Qatar Grand Prix, said Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur.

The Aston Martin driver was reprimanded by the stewards for an “unsafe” move when he rejoined the track in front of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc during yesterday’s race.

Alonso spent much of the first half of the race being chased by Leclerc. The pair closed up when Alonso went off early in the race, but the incident the stewards took note of occured in the second half of the race.

The turn two left-hander caught out Alonso on the 33rd lap of 57. Once he lost grip he was sent hurtling off the track and into the gravel.

He was able to keep his car turning and made his way to an escape road which was originally created to be part of a different circuit layout. That enabled him to accelerate back towards the track.

That road connects to the track after the apex of turn three, at an angle. Alonso rejoined into the path of Leclerc. The Ferrari driver darted to the left as Alonso appeared in front of him, though this was less to avoid a collision and rather to pass the Aston Martin around the outside at turn four.

Vasseur suspects Alonso would have taken a dim view of the move had he been in Leclerc’s position. “If it was in the opposite I think that Fernando would have been more than vocal on the radio, that his life was ‘really on the edge’ and so and so,” said Vasseur in response to a question from RaceFans.

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“I think it was far too much coming from nowhere and crossing the track at 90 degrees,” Vasseur added, “but it’s not my decision.”

Leclerc was slightly less critical of the incident than his team principal when he spoke to media.

“It was on the limit, yes,” said Leclerc. “But on the other hand, he was so far off that I don’t think he saw me at any point.

“Then coming back, it’s not the best way to rejoin the track, but at the same time I don’t think he was aware that I was there.”

Alonso said he’d made a costly error when he left the track. “I lost the car, it was my mistake,” he said. “I was struggling a little bit with on-off grip in the car at the moment.

“So yeah it was my mistake, a costly mistake, maybe one or two places. So hopefully next time better.”

Leclerc and Alonso finished the race in sixth and seventh respectively, with a ten-second gap between them by the chequered flag.

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2023 Qatar Grand Prix

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Author information

Ida Wood
Often found in junior single-seater paddocks around Europe doing journalism and television commentary, or dabbling in teaching photography back in the UK. Currently based...
Claire Cottingham
Claire has worked in motorsport for much of her career, covering a broad mix of championships including Formula One, Formula E, the BTCC, British...

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22 comments on “Alonso ‘would have been vocal on the radio’ if Leclerc did that to him – Vasseur”

  1. That was nasty. And it wasn’t even noted.

    1. It was noted by the stewards and, as it says in the article, Alonso was given a reprimand.

      1. oh, sure, it did not show up on TV though.

      2. I don’t see any point in those reprimands though. You do something nasty, you get that imaginary punishment. You make a small mistake and you get a time penalty.

      3. @keithcollantine the article says Leclerc and Alonso finished 6th and 7th. Should be 5th and 6th.

    2. Maybe ping pong is more your speed.

      1. what are you even talking about man?

        1. The fact you saw that as super dangerous indicates to me you might be comfortable watching ping pong. In reality, I just think you highly dislike FA rather than anything else.

  2. That’s because Alonse hasn’t had his soul demolished by Ferrari last year. The poor boy Leclerc is still recovering.

  3. True. And I’m surprised Leclerc didn’t do the same. Had they’ve been more vocal, Alonso would’ve got a penalty I’m sure. I’m surprised they only let him off with a reprimand…

    1. @fer-no65
      Alonso on the other hand is an old fox and his understanding of the game is top notch, whenever things don’t go his way he become intentionally whining on the radio and in the interview to embarrass the FIA. F1 realizes how popular is Alonso and how his ironic radios messages become cult within the F1 community (GP2 engine, yoke, Karma…), so they’re looking for them to add to the show.

      Alonso on the other hand is an old fox and his understanding of the game is top notch. When situations don’t favor him, he strategically resorts to airing his grievances on the radio and in interviews, aiming to embarrass the FIA’s stewards. F1 acknowledges Alonso’s popularity, and his ironic radio messages have become iconic within the F1 community (“GP2 engine,” “yoke,” “Karma,” etc.). Consequently, F1 actively seeks such moments to enhance the overall spectacle.

      Ferrari need to start playing the game like RBR and Mercedes or just stop complaining. Verstappen avoiding a penalty in Singapore speaks volumes about the influence of RBR’s PR machinery.

      1. ** sorry for the repetition of the second paragraph

  4. I think it looked more dramatic from the head-on view than it was. Alonso never actually joined the racing line, and it was Leclerc moving to the right to pick up a brief slipstream that made it look like they were potentially on a collision course, but Leclerc obviously had control of the situation. Leclerc could have kept to the racing line and driven straight past him just as easily. Still, Alonso did rejoin at high speed, so a reprimand is probably fair.

    1. That’s what it looked like on the highlights, which didn’t show the exact moment of rejoining, but suggested Alonso didn’t cross all the way over but rather stayed in the middle of the road with more than enough room on the outside – the usual racing line – for Leclerc to go past. Leclerc doesn’t even really seem to have thought about going on the inside. Just, as you note, a bit of a slipstream.

  5. It wasn’t that dangerous though. He never crossed or even touched the racing line and always left a cars width on the outside. It was more that Leclerc didn’t know if he actually would cut back right ahead of him. That’s what Leclerc was prepared for when he steered towards the middle of the track. But as he realized that Alonso gave him the space he just drove past.

  6. Vasseur has been saying a lot of stupid things this week. This is a great example where complaining now won’t benefit him or the team and he obviously wouldn’t have complained if it had been Leclerc doing the same thing.

  7. I wish they’d just ban radios again because I get really fed up of hearing drivers complaining in the hope of getting competitors penalised. If people want wingeing and whiningg, they can go watch premiership football.

    1. Couldn’t agree more.

    2. I’d rather they banned radios (properly) for other reasons. Sporting, mostly.
      It’s human nature that when people have a line of public communication, they’ll inevitably abuse it. And in today’s world, someone else will then use it to make money.

    3. Leclerc didn’t complain though. So why is this even a point in this discussion?

    4. +1 for silencing the radios.
      Back to simple pit boards (which could be digital).
      This would force the driver to actively handle a bit more of the strategy.
      I’d give them 2×6 characters maximum like this:

      ——–
      VER P1
      PIT IN

      ——–

      I wonder what type of message teams could create with only 12 characters over two lines.
      Also, some drivers would inevitably miss the pit boards…

      1. I feel the radios often break a basic concept of F1, that drivers must drive the car alone and unaided. If the driver is being told by the pits to brake later into a certain corner, or being told to short shift to reduce fuel consumption, or being told sequences of buttons to press to fix a gearbox softwre problem, that isn’t driving unaided. When peopel say modern F1 cars are too complicated for the driver to di it themselves, either design a car which is driveable unaided, or get a smarter driver who learns how to drive the car you’ve built.

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