Alonso penalized for contact with Sainz – News

Fernando Alonso pays the price for the heated Spanish derby which saw him protagonist in the China Sprint race with his friend-rival Carlos Sainz. In post-race interviews, the Ferrari driver had underlined the excessive aggressiveness with which his compatriot had tried to respond to his first overtaking and the race direction agreed with him, imposing a penalty on the two-time world champion. The stewards imposed a 10 second penalty on #14 which – by regulation – can only refer to the result of the Sprint race. The sanction is therefore not actually punitive, given that Alonso withdrew from the 100 km mini-race. However, the three penalty points on the Super License are decidedly heavier – also from a future perspective. In fact, Alonso – punished with similar severity in Melbourne for the controversial ‘brake test’ on George Russell – has already received a six-point penalty. At 12 the disqualification for a GP comes into effect and the Asturian will not be able to discard points for an entire year. Two more incidents of this kind in 2024 would essentially cause him to be ‘banned’ for a Grand Prix. In their official statement the stewards explained, by examining all the data and videos at their disposal, that they had determined that it was Alonso who caused the collision with Sainz’s car, causing himself a puncture and damage to the SF for his compatriot -24.