Alonso wants to make sure “nothing else is happening” after latest F1 penalty
Aston Martin has lodged a petition to review the 10-second time penalty and three points on Alonso’s licence that were handed down for a collision he had with Carlos Sainz in the Chinese Grand Prix sprint.
A stewards’ meeting has been called for 8am in Miami on Friday to judge whether or not Aston Martin has gathered a significant and relevant enough new piece of evidence to justify a fresh hearing over the matter.
Speaking ahead of the Miami GP, Alonso did not want to go into too many details about the case, but said there were some important answers that Aston Martin was chasing.
And in particular, the Spaniard says that they want some clarity in terms of why he appears to have been singled out so harshly for incidents in recent races – which included the sanction he got for his defensive driving against George Russell on the final lap of the Australian GP that triggered a crash.
Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-24, Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin AMR24, George Russell, Mercedes F1 W15
Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-24, Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin AMR24, George Russell, Mercedes F1 W15
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
“Obviously we have different opinions, but this happens in any sport,” said Alonso.
“Even when you watch football on TV, depending on which team you are, it’s a yellow card or red card or not. I think we will have different opinions as well always.
“But I think that in China, I think 99% of the people were enjoying the sprint event and the battles, and I think I had the hardest penalty of the race.
“So maybe it was a little bit confusing there, but let’s see tomorrow.”
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And with penalties having been given to him in both Australia and China, Alonso reckoned that it was important that he and the team got some answers about why certain decisions had been taken.
“The rules are the rules, and we accept those,” he said. “Sometimes we agree, sometimes we disagree, but we have to accept it because they [the stewards] have all the power to make those decisions, and they have all the understanding of the rules.
“But, as I said, I had the hardest penalty in the last two events in Australia and in China, so it’s good to make sure that everything is okay and nothing else is happening.”