“I will no longer consider Formula 1 as a sport“. The phrase, blunt like few others, was not uttered by just anyone. It was the year 2006 and Fernando Alonsoat that time the current world champion, began his particular crusade against the International Automobile Federation (FIA) in a historic press conference held minutes after being penalized in qualifying for a Monza Grand Prix. A battle that he has maintained throughout his entire career and that 18 seasons later has reached a new high point due to the disparity of the stewards when sanctioning actions on the track in recent weeks.
Specifically, it was at the Miami GP when everything ended up exploding. Alonso got there after being sanctioned in the two previous appointments. In Australia, he was given a 20-second penalty (and three penalty points in the Super License) and lost two positions, from sixth to eighth, accused of “potentially dangerous driving” for slightly early braking in turn six of Albert Park and the subsequent crash against George Russell’s wall (they did not even touch). A penalty for another pilot’s errorsomething unprecedented since the FIA’s own arguments declared him “not guilty” of the accident.
In Shanghai, two weeks later, a slight touch with Carlos Sainz that forced him himself Alonso to leave After a tense and exciting fight it ended with 10 seconds and another three points lost for the Asturian, when it could easily be resolved as a race incident. In total, Alonso has lost six points on his license in five races (there are 12 in a year that must be kept in order not to miss a Grand Prix) due to two minor incidents at most.
Touch of Alonso and Sainz during the Chinese GP. /F1
At that time the season ended in Miami, where at the start of the sprint race he saw how an over-braked Lewis Hamilton ruined his race and that of his teammate Lance Stroll at the start. It was also possible to see how Kevin Magnussen was accumulating sanctions (up to three the Dane received) for leaving the track on purpose to help his teammate, ruining the race of Hamilton himself, who was chasing him. without losing any points in the Superlicense.
“If I do that, they penalize me”
“Hamilton came from the inside without control of the car. If I do that, I would surely receive a penalty. We will see what they decide but I imagine it will be nothing because it is not Spanish“Alonso said after the action, about which the stewards considered that “one or more pilots could not be identified as more at fault than another.” “I feel that nationality matters. I will speak to Mohammed (ben Sulayem), and to the FIA. I need to make sure there is nothing wrong with my nationality or anything that could influence any decision. Not just for me, too for the future generation of Spanish pilotsthey need to be protected,” Alonso stressed at the same time that Hamilton himself joked that “I would go all out again in Turn 1.”
Just a day later, it was Carlos Sainz the victim of the disparity of criteria that has been installed in racing. The Ferrari driver was called to testify and before knowing the verdict, he already showed his surprise at the investigation. “I don’t think about nationalities, I think more about consistency or inconsistency in the sanctioning criteria. Piastri has done something very similar to what Magnussen did yesterday and he hasn’t had any of it and he hasn’t given me my position back,” said Sainz, more politically correct, when referring to the first incident with the Australian in their fight for fourth position. The second touch, which left the wing of the McLaren damaged, did result in punishment for Carlos, who in addition to the five seconds with which he fell from fourth to fifth place received 1 point on his license.
Sainz, also affected
“Formula 1 is Anglo-Saxon and now, with the entry of Liberty, it is also Americanized. There has always been one way of looking at things with Latinos and another with Anglos.. I will not say that it is true that it is ‘anti-Spanish’, but there are times when it gives the impression that it is,” explains Joan Villadelprat, one of the greatest experts in the great circus for his 30 years of experience as director of the Tyrrel, Benetton teams. and Prost Grand Prix, in addition to having been chief mechanic at Ferrari. “Carlos and Fernando are allowed less than others. I’m not saying it’s done on purpose but it happens,” says the former team leader, who knows the problem from his own experience.
Fernando Alonso with Mohammed ben Sulayem, president of the FIA. / EP
“The problem is that In each race you have different marshalswhich creates this type of situation in which one day an action is penalized and in the next race another equal or similar one is not. Each one interprets the regulations depending on how you understand it,” adds Villadelprat. “They are killing the essence of Formula 1, which is compete, take risks and sometimes not be so fair. Now to overtake you have to think 20 times, it depends on who you are, it is difficult for drivers to know what they have to do. “If they had always been like this we wouldn’t have seen guys like Senna or Schumacher,” he laments.
A war that Alonso, at 42 years old, has assumed as his own, displaying that guerrilla temperament that has earned him so many enemies. And in which he is accompanied by Aston Martin, surrendered to the driver for his performance: “We had a tough fight, we did poorly sportingly and we also received a penalty. We want to see fights like the one we saw (between Sainz and Alonso), even if it ended badly for us it was a great fight. Later in the race there is another incident, one car pushes another in turn six and there is no penalty. The two Ferraris push each other out (Leclerc Sainz) without leaving a gap at the start and there is nothing. Fernando, first, 10 seconds”, complained publicly as Mike Krack, head of the team.
“Normally the great champions do not shut up, and this bothers the FIA because they expose it. But Fernando goes through everything, his career is done and he is above good and evil. Now nothing is kept quiet, if there were more pilots like that we could put an end to the problem,” says Villadelprat.
2024-05-17 11:05:16
#Fernando #Alonso #accusing #FIA #antiSpanish #tantrum
