Aston Martin has requested a review of Alonso’s penalty in China
The request for a review of Fernando Alonso's penalty will be examined by the stewards of the Chinese Grand Prix to decide whether or not to grant Aston Martin's request.
Fernando Alonso received a 10-second penalty during the sprint race and three penalty points on his license after hitting Carlos Sainz during the sprint race on Saturday.
The Spaniards were fighting for third position when they collided at turn 9, causing the double world champion to have a puncture and forcing him to retire from the race. Sergio Perez took advantage of the incident to secure a place on the podium.
The stewards decided to take action against Alonso in accordance with the conduct standards directives, but the Aston Martin driver was not convinced he was at fault. “At turn 7, I think we were equal, then at turn 8, I tried to take the outside,” he said after the sprint race.
« But he opened up the trajectory to not leave me any space, so at turn 9, I did the same thing as him at turn 8. I tried to take the inside to not leave him any space on the trajectory, but at turn 8, I opened up so that we would not touch, and at turn 9 he did not open up. So, we touched each other. »
The team will now have to provide new evidence to the stewards for them to consider modifying their decision. A first hearing will take place on May 3, with the team principals of Aston Martin and Ferrari to determine if the evidence presented by the British team justifies the consideration of the stewards.
« It should be noted that this hearing will be held in two parts, the commissioners wrote in their statement. The first part will consist of hearing evidence to determine if there is new, significant, and relevant information that was not available to the party requesting the review at the time of the relevant decision. If the commissioners determine, in accordance with Article 14.3 of the FIA International Sporting Code, that such information exists, a second part of the hearing will be convened at a date to be specified. Any other ‘interested party’ may request permission from the commissioners to be present for the second part of the hearing, if convened. »
