He was so keen to send another ‘karma’ message to a vanquished rival that he missed his engineer’s increasingly firm radio instructions to adjust a car setting. Just as Fernando Alonso once delighted in learning Jolyon Palmer’s Renault had exited the 2017 Italian Grand Prix, he was again sending a message as he wagged his finger at Lewis Hamilton’s stricken Mercedes while passing by under safety car conditions early in last Sunday’s Belgian GP.
Alonso fumed as only he can. But, aside from the negative impact the incident had on the race, four