As often happened during this season, the Turkish Grand Prix has raised several discussions and controversies on the subject of penalty, inflicted too severely by the Race Direction, or not entirely imposed even in the face of rather obvious infringements. One of the most contested episodes by the public and by professionals is undoubtedly the one that occurred at the opening stages of the race, and which involved Pierre Gasly and Fernando Alonso.
The French ofAlphaTauri, actually found himself sandwiched at the beginning of the first corner between Sergio Perez and the Spanish driver himself, he in fact hit theAlpine of the two-time world champion, sending him into a spin. The Race Direction immediately put “under investigation“The contact – almost inevitable and which, at the end of the race, did not even arouse the protests of the Asturian – with a final decision that surprised the team from Faenza and most of the fans: five seconds penalty.
A verdict that has not in the least convinced even the one who, next season, will return to Formula 1 at the wheel of the Williams, and who responds to the name of Alexander Albon. The Anglo-Thai driver, among other things former Toro Rosso, intervened on the official channel of the Formula 1 on Youtube, analyzing what happened at the first corner on the Istanbul track and criticizing the choice of stewards: “For me the penalty didn’t have to be there – commented – first of all because it is an unwritten rule. In the first few corners and the first few laps, stewards tend to have a tolerant approach, following the philosophy of ‘let it go’. For me, the episode in question fit perfectly into this mentality, as Perez made a good start and went on the attack. Pierre gave him the space, but having found himself sandwiched, as he immediately said on the radio, he could not have done otherwise. I don’t know what the stewards would have expected from Pierre. The only thing I could interpret is that he left too much space between himself and Perez. However, under these conditions – concluded Albon – when you have a car that fits inside you like that, you can’t provide the ideal space, slightly increasing it compared to usual ”.