Two time Formula One champion Fernando Alonso has become the focal point of discussion among the motorsport community, after dropping a major possible hint about his future in F1.
When it comes to announcing a big career milestone such as a new contract extension, some amount of theatrics is expected from the sportsperson concerned. But for Alonso, it went above a couple notches.
Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon engaged in cryptic Twitter conversation regarding contract extension
On Wednesday, the Spaniard shared a tweet that would seemingly appear as some sort of an alien language to anyone, and it was only thanks to the efforts of the netizens who were able to decipher what Fernando Alonso exactly meant by it.
“BTV vras nduvrg ddwa. Eno iw giadt gby awa, Q’z xwptbvrg ewqf mn ndlr!!!!” this is what the 40-year-old posted on Twitter.
BTV vras nduvrg ddwa. Eno iw giadt gby awa, Q’z xwptbvrg ewqf mn ndlr!!!!
— Fernando Alonso (@alo_oficial) August 25, 2021
The Twitterati went into a thorough investigation on Alonso’s intentions behind the post, and detected ‘Alpine’ to be the keyword in the post. Interestingly, Alpine, or more specifically, Alpine Formula One is the team that Alonso is currently a part of.
Furthermore, the cryptic posting went on as Alonso’s teammate Esteban Ocon joined in. The Frenchman commented, “I mtb lsu pkmecoyt evpl hdzx sue lpnx yzj’zr enydcagiyv agvatvpg ewln,” which was deciphered to be, “I bet you everyone will work out what you’re announcing straight away.”
Alonso followedup by saying, “Lpi’a fie, wtb’f wep. Iprc’vp vwg 24 lofga gs wzgs vx ofi!” translated as “Let’s see, let’s see. They’ve got 24 hours to work it out!”
😁😁 Lpi’a fie, wtb’f wep. Iprc’vp vwg 24 lofga gs wzgs vx ofi!
— Fernando Alonso (@alo_oficial) August 25, 2021
Last month, Alpine team boss Laurent Rossi had stated that Fernando Alonso’s current deal with Alpine is ‘one plus one’, meaning it has an option to be extended until 2022.
“He is as fast as ever. He is certainly extracting the most out of the car,” Rossi said in an interview with the BBC, “the car is not incredibly fast and he still manages to get some super-hot laps and qualify the car very well. So far, so good.”