Alonso questions Ferrari strategy after late pitstop cost Leclerc fifth in Belgium

Alpine driver Fernando Alonso said he had been surprised when Ferrari brought in Charles Leclerc for a pitstop to try and get the fastest lap at the Belgian Grand Prix.

In what appeared to be a misjudgement, Ferrari, who was running fifth towards the end of the Belgian race, brought Leclerc into the pits but mistimed the gap between themselves and Alonso in sixth and ended up behind the Alpine driver but were then penalised later for speeding in the pit-lane.

The conclusion was that despite Leclerc overtaking Alonso, the Ferrari driver was handed a five-second penalty, which cost him his fifth place. He never achieved the fastest lap, which would have given him an extra point.

Alonso was asked by Sky Sports F1 if he was surprised by Ferrari's tactics, he replied: "Yeah, I was surprised.

"But Ferrari always does some strange strategy, so that was one of those," Alonso said.

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P9 in Lap 1 then tear off in the brakes that causes front right brake overheating, have to stop to take off the tear off off the brakes, come back to P5, took a 5 seconds penalty for being too quick in pit lane because of a burnt sensor caused by the first issue. Beautiful day! pic.twitter.com/8TbcsiqzEt

Alonso v Hamilton

Alonso was asked to comment on the 'idiot' incident with Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton on the first lap when the two drivers were fighting for third, but their cars made contact which caused Hamilton's car to jump in the air for a brief moment. While Alonso was allowed to continue the race, Hamilton pulled out due to damage to his car.

"For me, it was a little bit of a mistake from his side to close the door like this," said Alonso.

"At Turn 5,