Alonso hampered by controversial penalties

As they lined up on the grid at the Chinese GP, Alonso was seen speaking with Mohammed Ben Sulayem, president of the FIA. And if it was a conversation to convey his concern, the Spaniard had good reasons. In the last three races, Fernando has received two penalties for rather innocuous, non-flagrant fouls, which have charged him with six penalty points on his superlicense. At 12 penalty points during a 12-month period, drivers are hit with a one-race suspension. Everyone in the paddock agrees that Alonso is far from being aggressive or reckless on the track, which is why the recent harshness of the stewards is so annoying.

Krack defends Alonso

In Australia, although they declared him “not guilty” of Russell’s accident (they did not even touch), they gave him a 20-second penalty (and three penalty points) and he lost two positions, from sixth to eighth , accused of “potentially dangerous driving” for slightly braking early at Turn 6 of Albert Park. In Shanghai, the slight touch with Sainz that forced Fernando himself to abandon the race after a tense, exciting fight, ended with 10 seconds and another three points, when it could easily be resolved as an incident career.

Mike Krack, head of the team, was critical of the apparent lack of consistency of the stewards: “We want action in the sprint. We had a tough fight, we did poorly sportingly and we also received a penalty. We want to see fights like the one we saw [between Sainz and Alonso], even if it ended badly for us it was a great fight. Afterwards, spending hours with the commissioners is not fair. Later in the race we saw another incident, a car pushes another at Turn 6 and there is no penalty... The two Ferraris push each other out [Leclerc to Sainz] without leaving a gap at the start and there is nothing. Fernando, first, 10 seconds...”

Notorious accidents with milder punishment

In 2024 it was agreed between the teams to raise the minimum penalty for anyone who causes an accident to 10 seconds. Previously it was five but many actions are not investigated or are overlooked (in the first round or the starts there tends to be a soft hand) and others are harshly penalized. To contextualize: Hamilton received 10 seconds (and two points) for the dangerous accident that sent Verstappen to hospital at Silverstone in 2021 (a race which the Englishman eventually won); and Max was penalized with three places on the rear grid after parking the Red Bull on the Mercedes in the first corner at Monza, also in 2021.

There are plenty of other, similar cases - there’s no need to look far. The dangerous re-start at the 2023 Australia GP had several incidents. Sainz touched Alonso, who ended up spinning, and received five seconds (which made him fall from 4th to 12th) and two points. Further back, Sargeant took De Vries ahead without a penalty (Stroll received 10 seconds and two points for a similar action on Ricciardo last Sunday).

And Gasly, who left the track, returned uncontrollably to the asphalt and violently collided with Ocon in a spectacular accident that suspended the end of the race and yet did not receive any sanction. Meanwhile, authoritative voices from the paddock mutter that while Fernando or Stroll are easy targets for sanctions, other pilots in similar actions tend to go much more unnoticed. “It’s better not to do the sprints, we save tires - and penalty points...” Fernando acknowledged to AS after the Chinese GP. And he is right.