Alonso calls out Alpine: 'What are you doing this year to me?'

A frustrated Fernando Alonso had an unequivocal radio message for his Alpine crews after finishing seventh in Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix, with the Spaniard hitting out at his team's strategy calls.

Alonso took the lead of the challenging race on lap 8, for a single lap, but only because he had delayed his switch from full wets to intermediates.

He eventually undertook his pitstop but the ill-timed tyre change pushed the Spaniard down to P9 from where he recovered to P7 after executing another late stop six laps from the checkered flag.

Crossing the line just 0.011s behind Aston Martin's Sebastian Vettel, Alonso chastised his team over the radio on his slow down lap.

"What a mistake, eh? I mean strategically, what are you doing this year to me?" he quipped.

In the media pen, while taking a more cold-headed look at how events had unfolded for him, Alonso still rued his belated pitstops.

• Team Talk - Sunday in Suzuka

“I mean, it was difficult to read today, the conditions, and also the visibility was the biggest topic,” said the Spaniard. "We stopped very late every time that we decided to pit.

"At the beginning, I was alone with the full wets and I lost a couple of places and then at the end, we made an extra stop, but only six laps to the end, so there was no time really to make a difference, so we ended up in the same position."

Nevertheless, Alonso said the eventful race had given him so good fun.

"Yeah, some fun out there, very chaotic for everyone. Even the last lap we didn’t know if it was the last lap or not. So I think it was difficult for everybody."

Up ahead, a commanding performance by race winner Max Verstappen delivered his second world title to the Red Bull charger, but also his 32nd career win in F1, with both stats equaling those of Alonso.

"Yeah, obviously congratulations to him," said the Aston Martin bound driver.

"Amazing season and even today with all this chaos, you know, I think at the beginning, nobody knew if he was World Champion, and now he is – so that’s probably the summary of the afternoon."

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