Fernando Alonso thought Lewis Hamilton had cost him a chance to score some extra points after taking the chequered flag at the end of the Canadian Grand Prix.
The Aston Martin driver complained his rival failed to stay close to the queue of cars ahead of them as they drove to the finishing line. Alonso was hoping to benefit from any penalties for drivers ahead of them.
“Hamilton misses the lesson of being close to the car in front,” Alonso observed after taking the chequered flag. “Yeah, that was annoying,” replied his race engineer Chris Cronin.
The race finished under the Safety Car which meant drivers could not overtake each other. In line with regular procedure, the Safety Car entered the pits at the end of the final lap and the field crossed the finishing line without it.
Alonso stayed close to the tail of Hamilton and even had to back off to avoid catching him as they drove towards the finishing line. Hamilton, however, dropped back from the car ahead of him.
As they crossed the line Alonso, seventh, was just 0.259 seconds behind Hamilton in sixth. However the Ferrari driver was 7.2s behind his team mate in fifth place.
Hamilton, and therefore Alonso, was in no position to benefit if Leclerc or any driver ahead of them received a five-second time penalty. However this was largely not down to Hamilton’s driving.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Although Hamilton could have been closer to the car ahead of him in the queue, this wasn’t Leclerc, but one of seven lapped cars which separated him from his team mate. The Ferraris were separated by Oliver Bearman, Yuki Tsunoda, Franco Colapinto, Gabriel Bortoleto, Pierre Gasly, Isack Hadjar and Alonso’s team mate Lance Stroll. The presence of those cars accounted for the vast majority of the time gap which irked Alonso.
That said, within that queue of cars, only one driver was closer to the car ahead of him than Alonso was, and only one driver was further behind the car he was following than Hamilton. The gaps were as follows: Leclerc – 0.275s – Bearman – 1.739s – Tsunoda – 1.562s – Colapinto – 0.861s – Bortoleto – 0.071s – Gasly – 0.787s – Hadjar – 0.326s – Stroll – 1.650s – Hamilton – 0.259s – Alonso.
As Alonso’s radio chatter shows, Aston Martin were eyeing the possibility of penalties for the drivers ahead of him after the Safety Car was deployed because of a collision between the McLaren drivers:
| Lap: 66/70 ALO: 1’39.524 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cronin | Safety Car, Safety Car. Run switch cool. Keep it positive. We’re staying out. Bit of shunt on the way into turn one. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alonso | Copy, how many laps? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cronin | Over the line, it’ll be four to go. Okay, so we’re going through the pit lane. Through the pit lane Fernando. So reminder pit limiter. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alonso | Copy. Through the pit lane. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cronin | Everyone will follow you. So it’s just Norris stopped on the way to turn one left-hand side so going through the pit lane should be clear of any debris. Get the delta positive monitor once you’re back under the Safety Car line. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lap: 67/70 ALO: 1’53.748 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alonso | He passes the Safety Car I overtake the Safety [Car] I think? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cronin | So it’s still through the pit lane, still through pit lane. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alonso | Okay, through the pit. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lap: 69/70 ALO: 1’36.570 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cronin | Alonso drops back from the queue of cars ahead as they pass through yellow flags at the pit lane exit We’re out of the double yellow. Let’s try and catch up as best as we can. Back of the field’s currently around turn 10. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cronin | So we’ll come back through the pit lane. I know you’re doing your best, but it’d be good to catch the queue just in case there’s any penalties for cars ahead. So back through pit lane, reminder pit limiter. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alonso | Yeah, pit lane. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cronin | It’s now one lap to go. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alonso | We will pass [the chequered flag] on the straight, I guess. Still double yellow, or? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lap: 70/70 ALO: 1’27.108 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cronin | It is still double yellow, affirm, still double yellow where you are now. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cronin | Alonso drops back from the queue of cars ahead as they pass through yellow flags at the pit lane exit Clear of double yellow so we can push again. Back of the field’s at turn eight. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cronin | Russell is backing everyone up, so you might just get to the back of the pack, so just caution. We’ll stay on track, so the Safety Car will come through the pit lane, we’ll stay on track. This will be the end of the race, so make sure you’re close just in case of any penalties for cars ahead of you. Stay out. Stay out. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chequered flag | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cronin | That is the flag, so that is P7 for now. Well done mate. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alonso | We are within five seconds of interesting people or no? Hamilton misses the lesson of being close to the car in front. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cronin | Yeah, that was annoying wasn’t it? I’ll let you know in a sec, I’ll just give you some switches, let’s get HPP off. Run switch, warm-up. We need MFB blue override position 12. MFP blue override position 12. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
After taking the chequered flag Alonso noted several drivers, including his team mate, overtaking cars when they were not allowed to as they were still under Safety Car conditions. Seven drivers later received warnings for those errors.
At the time, Alonso thought the transgressions might lead to penalties, and joked that the team’s sporting director Andy Stevenson had a long evening ahead of him:
| Alonso | Still yellow and Safety Car so tell Lance, maybe. |
| Cronin | Yeah, copy, understood. Yeah, so no passing. Safety Car still active. No passing, no overtaking. Good point. |
| Cronin | Piastri was involved in that incident, Fernando, and he’s within, I think, 10 of him, so… |
| Alonso | Alright, and check if someone did pass in the first couple of corners. Yeah, we’re watching. |
| Cronin | We see at least two or three, so we’re monitoring that, Fernando. |
| Alonso | Yeah, well done guys. Not an easy race but we executed well, especially yesterday, so yeah. |
| Cronin | Yeah, that was good. |
| Alonso | On to the next one. |
| Cronin | Exactly, yeah. Let’s crack on now. That first stint was difficult. So we’ve seen more cars overtaking so [unclear]. |
| Alonso | Yeah. It will be a good afternoon. Sorry Andy, if you have a flight soon… |
| Cronin | Yeah, he’s got a bit on. |
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Miss nothing from RaceFans
Get a daily email with all our latest stories – and nothing else. No marketing, no ads. Sign up here:
2025 Canadian Grand Prix
- After Red Bull’s third Russell protest, could 2025 see a peak in post-race rows?
- Why Alonso was unimpressed with Hamilton at the end of the Canadian GP
- Ferrari told Hamilton damage from marmot cost him 20 points of downforce
- Wolff certain Verstappen didn’t support Red Bull’s ’embarrassing’ Russell protests
- We need a lot more weekends like this to fight for the title – Verstappen
