Fernando Alonso is chasing talks with the FIA after suggesting that nationality is playing a role in the stewards’ decisions to hand certain drivers penalties during races. The Aston Martin star was furious after Lewis Hamilton went unpunished for a lap-one incident in the sprint in Miami.
After getting a strong launch, Hamilton attempted an ambitious move up the inside of Alonso on the run into the sharp turn-one right-hander. However, the seven-time world champion was carrying a lot of speed and with Lance Stroll moving around the outside of his team-mate, the Spaniard found himself sandwiched.
Alonso couldn’t avoid making contact with both his team-mate and Hamilton, sending Stroll out of the race and leaving the two-time world champion with a puncture that ended his hopes of a point-scoring finish. It also ended the race of Lando Norris, who was an innocent bystander on the outside of the trio.
However, following a review from the stewards, no further action was taken with the crash described as a racing incident. What may have helped Hamilton’s case was that Alonso and Stroll had already made contact before he arrived on the scene at speed.
Discussing his thoughts about the decision not to penalise Hamilton for the crash, Alonso said: “We’ll see what they decide. I guess they won’t decide anything, because he’s not Spanish. But I think he ruined the race for a few people, especially Norris, who had a very fast car and he was out in that incident.”
He later clarified his comments, adding: “I do feel that nationality matters. I will speak with Mohammed [Ben Sulayem], with [the] FIA… whatever I need to make sure that there is not anything wrong with my nationality or anything that can influence any decision – not only for me, [but] also for the future generation of Spanish drivers that need to be protected.”
Alonso’s start to the weekend in Miami has been far from harmonious, and the 42-year-old once again made clear his distaste for the sprint race experiment. “We didn’t have any interest in the sprint race,” he said. “We were just going to check degradation and things for tomorrow and at the end we managed it. For us it’s a free practice, it’s not really a race.”
