Alonso will speak to FIA about F1 stewards' bias as "nationality matters"
For several races there has been unease at Aston Martin with how its drivers are getting the worst of some of the FIA race stewards’ decisions.
Alonso was handed a penalty in Australia for potentially dangerous driving, as the excessive manner in which he slowed down for a corner led to an accident for the chasing Mercedes of George Russell.
Alonso was penalised again in China for making sideways contact with Carlos Sainz in the sprint race, while Stroll was pinged for running into the back of Daniel Ricciardo under the safety car, decisions that team boss Mike Krack felt were “frustrating” and “unfair”.
In Miami’s sprint the Spaniard was on the receiving end of Lewis Hamilton’s aggressive move down the inside at the start of the race, which led to a four-car melee also involving his team-mate Lance Stroll and McLaren’s Lando Norris.
Alonso fumed that Hamilton would escape sanction for the one-lap contact because he “isn’t Spanish”. And four hours later, after qualifying for Sunday’s grand prix, he still felt the same way over how he is treated.
“I do feel that nationality matters,” Alonso said. “And I will speak with Mohammed [Ben Sulayem, FIA president], with the FIA, whatever.
“I need to make sure that there isn’t anything wrong with my nationality or anything that can influence any decision. Not only for me, also for the future generation of Spanish drivers. They need to be protected.
“I had to open the gap, because Hamilton was coming from the inside without control of the car. If I do that, for sure I get a penalty.”
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin F1 Team, talks to the media
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin F1 Team, talks to the media
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Alonso was further frustrated by a disappointing qualifying session at the Miami International Autodrome, exiting Q2 in 15th after finding himself on the wrong end of F1’s tight midfield battle.
“A little bit disappointed with qualifying for us. P15 in Q1, P15 in Q2, so I didn’t have much pace today,” he admitted.
“We made some set-up changes since this morning – looking at the time, they probably didn’t work as expected and we are a little bit less competitive than normal.
“I was understeering a lot in the high-speed and oversteering a lot in the low-speed [corners] and I felt like no grip on the car in any of the runs.
“With two tenths you can be P8 or P15. We are on the wrong side of that group as we’ve been on the good side in the last few races.
“It’s going to be a tough race. Hopefully with Lance starting P11 we’re going to score a few points. With me P15 it is going to be very difficult.”