Alonso's Penalty

[Hamish]

I am sure all of you are just as fuming as I am. I cannot imagine how Alonso and the Ferrari Team are feeling.

It is a shame that things in F1 are not consistent for sure. I do feel that the penalty was totally unfair especially as Kubica had already retired when Alonso was made to serve it. Totally ruined a good race.

I don't know how Alonso didn't just pull into the pits and retire at that point. It seems no matter what Ferrari does the stewards and FIA are against them. What would F1 be like if Ferrari said "enough is enough, we are leaving".

[Agron]

Indeed, I was so angry I wished the team would have asked to just park the car in the side of the track to give RC the middle finger. But they are professionals and have good heads on their shoulders so they kept fighting. Priceless the interview Alonso gave to the spanish press, classy, PR correct. If you are going to f*ck us you won't even be able to portray us as the whiny, bad guys; of course, behind closed doors -as it should be- there's going to be pressure for heads to start rolling, I hope.

[Tifosi]

We should have given the place back. Moaning about it is really just sour grapes. We knew it could be given as a penalty and it was.

Ferrari gambled and got it wrong.

Has happened before to others and will happen again. It was avoidable.

[Diablo]

Alonso jumped the chicane and gained a place. It did deserve a penalty. Only thing is again the inordinate delay the stewards took was ridiculous. Alonso brought this on himself.

[Hamish]

Can you give me the link to the interview please.

[delsando]

This really tested out Fernando temper, im glad he remained calm and accepted the penalty. He'll use this as a motivation in the upcoming races.

Hopefully Spanish FIFA Win will cheer him up!

[Alonsomaniac]

DISGRACE, that is all I can say.
Even David Coulthard is completely on Alonso's side in this.
As DC asked, what do we want? Do we want drivers to stop overtaking in fear of getting these kind of penalties??

If Alonso had stopped, I would have understood his reaction. I can´t imagine how he must have felt after this SECOND injustice.

[shostak]

Marc Gené said Alonso didnt be able to avoid cutting chicane when Kubica hasnt left any space to Alonso. It was collision or cutting chicane. One more from maFIA. I wont watch F1 this year. I dont want to watch a fraud.

[Agron]

Kubica left him no room when he was slightly ahead or at least wheel to wheel, he didn't gain nothing that wasn't already his, at most they could have asked him to give a position back. Not delay the decision until they can throw in a safety car for the SC&DT combo of doom

[Tifosi]

Remember Spa a couple of years ago? Did we moan about Lewis getting his retrospective demotion?

[Red_Diamond]

Remember Spa a couple of years ago? Did we moan about Lewis getting his retrospective demotion?

Well, I don't see Ferrari or Ferrari fans moaning about today's penalty.

[Tifosi]

Well, I don't see Ferrari or Ferrari fans moaning about today's penalty.

heheh. true enough, although Luca Colajanni suggested that Ferrari were pretty annoyed.

[Agron]

Can you give me the link to the interview please.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/85214

[shostak]

Alonso received today 2 penalties in one: Drive Through + Safety Car. And Charlie 'waited' until the two were joined.

[Kingdom Hearts]

To some degree I think everyone is right, the ones that think that Alonso cut the chicane and gain advantage and the ones that think that Alonso couldn't do anything differently. Is really hard to judge.

I don't agree with the penalty, it was too harsh and the SC made it worse but the problem is not the penalty or the stewards, the problem is on the start...again.

[Hornet]

Fair enough if they want to bring up the cutting chicane thing

But Alonso was forced off track. He was forced into going across the inside of that turn. Shouldn't that be taken into consideration?

If not, fine. Penalize Kuby as well for forcing a driver off the track.

[Alonsomaniac]

To some degree I think everyone is right, the ones that think that Alonso cut the chicane and gain advantage and the ones that think that Alonso couldn't do anything differently. Is really hard to judge.

I don't agree with the penalty, it was too harsh and the SC made it worse but the problem is not the penalty or the stewards, the problem is on the start...again.

You mean if the start had been okay he would not have been where he was now.....okay, that is correct. The start was bad, the car had massive wheelspin, even in second gear. I have no idea what caused that but it shlould not have happened.
The penalty, as even DC said, was bull.
And the effect was that he did not have to give a place back to Kubica, who was not there anymore, but to everybody else. That is no penalty, that is screwing someones race.

They could have just as well blackflagged Fernando.

[Tifosi]

It is ridiculous to say that we were wronged. As soon as we saw the overtake we all knew he could be penalised and he was. It was avoidable if we'd given the place back.

That is our own issue, regardless of where you personally think the sun shines out of!

[ferrari4life]

while if u want to consider all things fair then the penalty was fair...but the FIAs new approch as of the last race when it comes to handing out penalties that justify the end result compared to the breach in rules it was total bogus. (of course its fair to modify rules to make the punishment fit the crime when it comes to cars other than ferrari )

[Tifosi]

The issue is that you just can't trust the stewards to make timely or consistant decisions.

Best not to rely on them when you have a choice really

[XXX132]

It is ridiculous to say that we were wronged. As soon as we saw the overtake we all knew he could be penalised and he was.

From where I was RK forced him off the track when he was already ahead.

Given that his race was over at that point, it was a shame FA didn't overtake the SC when it came out, then served a drive through. That would've been interesting...

As it was we were shafted into last place.

Somebody will be finding horses heads in their beds soon.:twisted

[stringer987]

Am i right in saying during the race it said it would be investigated after the race?

[gabobito]

What actually made the penalty worse was the SC. I think it was just tough luck that the SC was deployed when Alonso was handed the penalty. Who could have thought that as Alonso was given a drive thru penalty, parts of dela rosa's car would disintegrate and lay on the track?

[NJB13]

It is ridiculous to say that we were wronged. As soon as we saw the overtake we all knew he could be penalised and he was. It was avoidable if we'd given the place back.

That is our own issue, regardless of where you personally think the sun shines out of!

I think the most salient point is he didn't overtake - as the replay clearly shows, he was either in front or, at worst, level when he went off.

[FerrariF60]

We should have given the place back. Moaning about it is really just sour grapes. We knew it could be given as a penalty and it was.

Ferrari gambled and got it wrong.

Has happened before to others and will happen again. It was avoidable.

i hate to say it, but WE GOT PENILIZED FARE AND SQUARE; nando should have given the position back given that he clearly too advantage by cutting accross

[Tifosi]

I think the most salient point is he didn't overtake - as the replay clearly shows, he was either in front or, at worst, level when he went off.

but regardless he had to go off track to maintain the position and that's not allowed. Don't get me wrong, I think it was a late and harsh decision. My issue is that we knew it was a risk and we could have avoided it.

We CLEARLY can't rely on the stewards to let us know if we SHOULD have given the place back in a timely manner and I can't seriously believe that Ferrari ever believed that either. It's never worked that way to my knowledge. After the farce of Spa 2008, we've known how Stewards can review past incidents and there's no way to guarantee that we'd ever be allowed to give the place back.

We gambled. We lost

[NJB13]

i hate to say it, but WE GOT PENILIZED FARE AND SQUARE; nando should have given the position back given that he clearly too advantage by cutting accross

Fernando was in front, or at least level when he was forced off - he did not gain a position by going off line. In my opinion, Fernando should have no penalty.

[Hornet]

I think the most salient point is he didn't overtake - as the replay clearly shows, he was either in front or, at worst, level when he went off.

QFMFT
It appears that Alonso has already overtook Kuby before going into that corner and rightfully have the line.
Kuby forced him off when he should have left enough space

Did anyone see it as Kuby trying to gain back his place by forcing Alonso off rather than Alonso going off and gain a place?

[Stormsearcher]

Forget Istanbul. This is our worst GP so far. And for once, i think the blame is fully on our drivers. Alonso should have given the place back.. it was taking too much of a risk especially coming in the wake of a race where he blamed the stewarts for not handing out penalties. What was he thinking?
He fought very hard though, and thats the spirit we want.
Massa just didnt get to grips with the car atall. Kept going backwards. Todays race was a disgrace! The only way back is consecutive victories. Otherwise we can kiss this year good bye.

[epiclyaddicted]

Ok, a couple of points from me.

First, the message from Race Control was "drive-through penalty for car number 8 for cutting the chicane and gaining an advantage". Kubica and Alonso went into that chicane side by side, Alonso tried to turn in for the chicane but Kubica pushed him off the track, so Alonso had no other choice but to do what he did. He didn't just straight line the chicane as a premeditated move, he was forced off the track. Then, Kubica retired a couple of laps later, so even without that overtaking move, Alonso would have taken that position anyway. So what advantage did he gain then?

Second, what a coincidence that our dear Mr. Charlie Whiting had to start investigating that incident couple of laps AFTER Kubica had retired, and announce the drive-through JUST as the Safety Car was deployed, meaning an effective black flag (race over) for Alonso. Kubica himself said on the BBC straight after his retirement, that he was told Alonso would yield the place back but that it didn't matter now anyway since he had to retire. So effectively, Alonso got penalised for nothing.

Going back to Valencia, Hamilton gained a monumental advantage by overtaking the Safety Car, and that could have potentially been a big safety hazard. With the safety in mind, Hamilton should have been black flagged in that race, but he only got a drive-through and only after he had built up a huge gap. So effectively, he got away with what was a serious offence.

So just looking at the level of penalties, the FIA is basically saying that cutting a chicane and gaining ONE place in track position is exactly the same level of offence as overtaking the Safety Car? Ok, that's brilliant! Thanks for clearing that up Mr. Whiting. I'll really keep that in mind next time I hear/read/see anything about the FIA's Make Roads Safe campaign.