Near the end of the Canadian Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso had asked the team if he could “stop now” on the team radio. The team radio message was broadcasted on television. Given the McLaren’s poor performance in the previous season, it wouldn’t be the first time that Alonso has asked to retire from the race. However, he has clarified the meaning of the message.
Often when a team radio message is broadcast on the television, we don’t really hear the full conversation or it is really delayed. This means that messages can often be misunderstood by fans, as is the case in Canada. Near the end of the Canadian Grand Prix, we heard Alonso ask “can I stop now?” over the team radio. It was originally believed that Alonso was asking the team if he could retire the car. However, Alonso has revealed that he was actually just asking to make a pit stop.
Alonso was one of the only drivers to run a one-stop pit strategy during the race, with Mercedes also doing the same. According to Alonso, he wanted to make an additional pit stop with five laps remaining in the race so that he could get new tyres and enjoy the final laps of the race, instead of struggling with the tyre degradation. Having been outside of the points scoring positions, it wouldn’t have impacted the team’s points situation.
Since Alonso’s McLaren was running just outside of the points, in P11, the team told him to stay out in hopes that one of the cars in front would suffer an issue and allow Alonso to pick up a point toward the championship title. Alonso would have liked to pit because he felt that the race was very boring for him. During the first pit stop he lost a lot of time due to some issues and he ended up rejoining the race all by himself.
He completed the race in P11, so the team’s decision to stay out didn’t make a difference in the results. The team will be looking for some points in the European Grand Prix next weekend.
Weekend Summary: 2016 Canadian Grand Prix
2016 Canadian Grand Prix Predictions
