Why Alonso and Aston made the call that guaranteed Verstappen's Monaco victory

At what was considered to be the biggest test to Red Bull’s 2023 Formula 1 domination, Max Verstappen stood firm against a prowling Fernando Alonso and the roulette wheel that is a dry-to-wet Monaco Grand Prix. While the Dutchman’s driving deserves the biggest credit as his ace card, key strategy calls by his rivals dealt him an even stronger hand

Jake Boxall-Legge May 29, 2023, 9:06 AM

Upd: May 31, 2023, 1:03 PM

"For me, it was very clear that the track, on that lap we stopped, was completely dry, apart from Turn 7 and 8," Fernando Alonso reflected, discussing his call to pit for medium tyres at the end of lap 54 of an unusual Monaco Grand Prix.

Having discussed the weather forecast with his Aston Martin engineers, they concluded that incoming rainfall would amount to nothing more than "a small shower". Expecting it to pass, the team stuck to its guns with its medium-hard tyre strategy, and Alonso was expecting a few laps of clinging on at the Fairmont Hairpin and Portier before the rain subsided.

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Author Jake Boxall-Legge

Jake Boxall-Legge Autosport’s Technical Editor. Having studied Automotive Engineering with Motorsport at the University of Hertfordshire, West Country-born Jake's original ambition was to design racing cars. During a year between studies in which he accidentally rekindled a love of writing, he took up a Master's in Motorsport Engineering at Oxford Brookes. Halfway through his master's year, he was offered a place on the Autosport Academy, conducting occasional freelance duties before becoming the press officer for Formula 2 and GP3 in 2018. Autosport offered him a return to the fold later that year to serve as its Technical Editor. His voice appears on a number of videos and podcasts, and can often be found writing about terrible Formula 1 cars in excruciating detail. In his spare time, Jake enjoys baking and blames his failure to make it past the Great British Bake-Off interviews on his tenuous grasp on choux pastry. His dream is to open a brunch cafe - and his willingness to make outrageous puns in inappropriate situations has earned him the contempt of his colleagues.