In China a rain of penalties: and for many the nightmare of disqualification returns

Super work for the commissioners

In addition to yet another solo from Max Verstappen, increasingly the undisputed leader of this championship, the Chinese GP provided many points for discussion also from a disciplinary point of view. In fact, between the Sprint race and the 'classic' GP on Sunday, the commissioners were called to intervene on multiple occasions. On the Shanghai circuit, which was back on the calendar for the first time since 2019, they are penalties piled up and some of these will also complicate the lives of some pilots quite a bit points remaining on the Super License in view of the next appointments.

Aston Martin trembles

The first to be sanctioned, on Saturday, was Fernando Alonsopunished for having caused by contact with Carlos Sainz during the Sprint race. The Spaniard from Aston Martin saw three more penalty points added, bringing his tally to six. Any stoppage for a race would lead to the achievement of 12 pointsbut the two-time world champion will have to be careful because during this championship he won't have any other penalty points to discard, so two more infringements like those in Melbourne and Shanghai would lead to his sensational stoppage.

Equally worrying is the situation of his teammate, Lance Stroll, punished with two penalty points – even a few, in the writer's opinion – for the collision against Daniel Ricciardo during the Safety Car regime in Sunday's GP. The Canadian has gained 7 penalty points in the last 12 months and will not be able to discard any until July.

Sargeant -4 from disqualification

TO Logan Sargeant received 8 penalty points, which is certainly not helping Williams to emerge from a period of deep crisis in these first GPs. The American had already collected six penalty points at the end of the last championship, between September and October, and on Sunday he added two more overtaking Nico Hulkenberg's Haas under the Safety Car, which was coming out of the pits. The #2 is now just four points away from disqualification, just like Red Bull's Sergio Perez.

The same Sargeant sanction was also applied to Daniel Ricciardo, also responsible for an unauthorized overtaking – also against Hulkenberg – during the phase of the race neutralized by the safety car. For the Australian, however, these are the first two penalty points collected in a year. Finally punished with two points too Kevin Magnussen, guilty of having caused the contact with Yuki Tsunoda's Racing Bullsthen forced to withdraw from the Dane's maneuver.