Alonso given five-second penalty for contact with Ocon
12th November 2022Alpine’s Fernando Alonso has been issued with a five second, post-race, penalty after he was deemed to be ‘at fault for the collision’ with his teammate, Esteban Ocon.
The Alpine duo of Alonso and Ocon were in a fierce fight for track position in the early stages of the Sao Paulo Grand Prix Sprint Qualifying session.
The two first came together at turn four, on the first lap as Alonso was forced wide and onto the run off. Alonso was able to return to the track, behind his teammate and ahead of his former McLaren teammate Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes).
However, the pairing quickly made contact again at the end of the first lap as the Spaniard’s front wing made clipped the rear-right tyre of Ocon’s car.
The Frenchman was able to continue on with minimal issues while Alonso was forced to return to the pits, for a new front wing, on the following lap.
The incident was investigated by the race stewards who summoned them to the office. Following their discussion, the race stewards said:
“Alonso started a pass on car 31 at turn 15. The team noted that Ocon was unusually slow because of the aero damage due to the incident at turn 4, however the Stewards determined via telemetry that Ocon was at similar speeds to other cars at the same point on the track that were not in a tow.
“Alonso, however, was significantly faster as he had the tow, and – as he admitted in the hearing – slightly misjudged the time to pull out and struck Ocon from behind, his front wing striking Ocon’s rear tyre.
“The Stewards found that Alonso was wholly at fault for the collision, which at those speeds and at that location on the track was dangerous”
As a result of the penalty, the Alpine duo will start the Sao Paulo Grand Prix at the back of the grid, in P17 and P18, with Ocon ahead of Alonso.
In addition, the two-time world champion has been issued with two-penalty points which has increased his total – over a 12 month period – to six.
That’s it for the article; Alonso given five-second penalty for contact with Ocon!
What do you think, is Alonso’s penalty justified, should Ocon receive a penalty for the incident in turn four or were they both racing incidents? Let us know in the comments!
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