Why Alonso was 'teasing' Aston Martin in Saudi Arabia

Aston Martin needed to be "careful" to see if Fernando Alonso was actually "teasing" the team with his strategy demand in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, boss Mike Krack has said.

The two-time champion qualified fourth and finished fifth in Jeddah, holding off the Mercedes of George Russell for a first top-five of the year following ninth in Bahrain.

After the race settled down following the Safety Car restart, those who had stopped were all on the Hard Pirelli tyres, and with little degradation, overtaking was tricky.

Alonso radioed his team to ask whether there was a "Plan B" strategy - which would have been a two-stopper - but Krack believes this was just Alonso being canny and trying to trick rivals.

"[Fernando] asked for the Plan B, "Is there a Plan B?' and we know Fernando is always teasing you - and you have to be careful if he is being honest about it," Krack told media including RacingNews365.

"Because he knows all the strategies, he knows where all the field is, and sometimes he maybe even does it on purpose because he knows the competitors are listening.

"He always wakes us up - as soon as you think you can breathe for one lap, there comes a radio call: 'What about Plan B?'

"We had a look at Plan B but told him: 'You will not finish where you are with it.'"