Fernando Alonso conducts most blatant spying mission following Dutch Grand Prix

Fernando Alonso may have failed his MI6 audition after conducting the most obvious spying mission at the Dutch Grand Prix. The double world champion trailed home in 10th at Zandvoort as McLaren’s Lando Norris took a dominant victory over home hero Max Verstappen.

McLaren have completely eroded Red Bull’s huge pace advantage over the last few months, and Norris made it tell in the Netherlands. Despite losing the lead to Verstappen off the start, the British driver soon cruised past his friend and rival before driving off into the distance.

By the finish, Norris was a whopping 22.8 seconds clear of the reigning world champion, trimming the gap in the F1 drivers’ standing to 70 points with nine rounds still to go. It’s been an impressive turnaround for McLaren, who were well off Red Bull’s pace at the start of the season.

A major update for the Miami Grand Prix, which Norris won, got them on Red Bull’s pace. The Woking team unleashed another big upgrade for Zandvoort which appears to have made them the car to beat.

While the other McLaren of Oscar Piastri could only manage fourth, he would have challenged Verstappen for second had he not been stuck by the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, who finished third. McLaren’s searing pace and the success of their updates have naturally intrigued their rivals.

That includes Aston Martin’s Alonso, who went to extreme and humorous lengths to try and get a better understanding of F1’s car of the moment. After parking behind one of the McLarens, the 43-year-old was spotted getting on his hands and knees to inspect the rear of the car, which is vital to aerodynamic efficiency.

The footage, shot from Alonso's car, wasn’t aired on TV but was shared on social media by F1’s official channels, prompting laughter from fans. Speaking after the race, the Spanish legend said: “The top four teams, it seems they are in another league.

“We are fighting for ninth and 10th, today was 10th. Pierre [Gasly, who finished ninth] was a little bit faster than us all throughout the race, so it was a challenging race for us. We didn’t have the pace, we were not comfortable so we need to get better.”

Alonso has plenty of history with McLaren, driving for the team in 2007 when he had an explosive rivalry with a young Lewis Hamilton. After spectacularly falling out with the team, he left after just one year and rejoined Renault.

Then, in one of the most surprising F1 moves of all time, Alonso rejoined McLaren for 2015 at the start of their ill-fated engine partnership with Honda. After four uncompetitive years, Alonso stepped away from F1 at the end of 2018, returning in 2021 with Renault (now Alpine).