Fernando Alonso criticizes the FIA in light of its new guidelines: "I received the harshest penalty in the last 25 years."
Penalties have been the focus of the latest wave of F1 controversy . Following the incident between George Russell and Max Verstappen behind the Safety Car in Montreal, with the Englishman braking heavily on the straight that did not result in a penalty, the International Automobile Federation (FIA) has published some vague guidelines, followed by the stewards, when handing out penalties. In response to this incident, Fernando Alonso recalled an extremely harsh penalty , despite there not even being any contact in the incident in question.
It happened at the 2024 Australian Grand Prix . Alonso was running sixth, pursued by Russell. To defend against the Englishman's attack, the two-time world champion changed his braking point, something that caught the Mercedes driver off guard, and he ended up hitting the wall because of the dirty air left by the Asturian. For this reason, the Aston Martin leader was penalized with a 20-second penalty . Curiously, a lesser penalty would not have caused him to lose positions after the race.
"When you make a mistake and cross the white line, or you exceed the speed limit in the pit lane, it is a driving error that can be penalized with five seconds or a drive through , and when you push someone onto the grass in the middle of the grass you can receive penalty points, because it is dangerous driving ," the Oviedo native reviewed regarding the published guidelines.
"Although last year I received the harshest penalty in the last 25 years. A 20-second penalty and three points on my license for a non-contact incident . These things aren't good, although we're all trying to learn and adjust," he recalled.
As for this weekend's Austrian GP, Alonso is cautious about the Aston Martin's performance: " We have several ideas as to why we were slightly worse on Sunday , or why the peak grip of the tyres masked the problems on Saturday, and we have to address them," he concluded.
20minutos
