Alonso: two penalties after contact with Sainz
The contact occurred between Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz in the race Sprint of the Chinese Grand Prix forced the Aston Martin Spaniard to retire due to damage suffered in the second half of the 19 laps in total. To this fact, which took away the opportunity of being able to fight for the podium area, the Race Direction also inflicted a double penalty to the 42-year-old shortly before qualifying with the publication of an official press release: 3 points on the Super License e 10 seconds on the Sprint.
When should seconds be discounted?
A penalty that aggravates the situation of Alonso, who will have to complete the rest of the world championship with a total of six points out of the maximum 12 allowed before being disqualified for one race. The Commissioners, in fact, had initially sanctioned the two-time world champion for the brake test on Russell in Australia, but what initially generated the greatest number of doubts it was related to when the seconds of penalties to be served referred to: were they to be deducted from the time on the Sprint already concluded with a retirement, or were they to be deducted for the Sunday race still to be run?
The answer in the regulation
Despite having withdrawn from the race, the penalty time is still there reported to Sprint. Consequently, while points have a consequence on subsequent sessions or the rest of the championship, the same does not apply to seconds deducted. In this regard, the first to ask for clarification from the International Federation were i Commissioners of competition.
The Commissioners' request
The latter, in fact, made the following appeal to ensure that the regulation presents clearer language: “As a side note from the FIA, we note that the regulations language regarding when a car has retired and the resulting penalty consequences which may be imposed or discounted, especially when the car is otherwise classified, it is unclear and we would like to recommend that the FIA consider making the necessary changes to make greater clarity on this issue“.
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