Comparison of Track Cut Penalties on Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton
So the assessment is final - No Formula One season featuring Fernando Alonso can go on without a controversy. In Monaco 2006, Alonso was at the losing end of the qualifying incident with Schumacher. In Monza 3 years ago, Alonso was penalized for blocking cars in qualifying which he thought was a very harsh decision. The man erred in 2007 once again as Alonso made it to the headlines for allegedly serving as McLaren’s spy. When Alonso won the opening race in Singapore in 2008, controversies made a flying comeback that eventually showed Flavio Briatore the door. And finally in 2010, Alonso blamed the FIA for race manipulation in Valencia after a safety car incident and the most recent Alonso controversy involves his drive through penalty during the British Grand Prix 2010.
Alonso was running at the sixth spot behind Robert Kubica and was evidently quicker than the Renault driver. He made an overtaking manoeuvre but was push wide on to the grass. Alonso continued his path and went past Kubica after cutting the track. Alonso instead of giving the position back to Kubica went on to overtake another car. A few laps later, Alonso was awarded a drive through penalty and just before he could serve it, the safety car was introduced. After the Spaniard served his penalty, he fell at the back of the grid and never scored any points from there on.
While Alonso has decided to stay quiet over the incident, Ferrari Team Principal Stefano Domenicali has repeatedly said that the penalty was harsh and by the time they got the orders of giving the position back to Kubica, the driver was already slowing down due to his engine failure.
Quite recently, Formula One Race Director Charlie Whiting argued that Ferrari’s claims were pointless as they were informed on three occasions to give back the position. The first instance came about when Ferrari was informed of the illegal move immediately after Alonso overtook Kubica. Whiting says that Ferrari turned a deaf ear to the warning and as a result, the penalty was inevitable.
To see whether the penalty was harsh or not, we would have to compare it with a similar incident that happened in the Belgian Grand Prix in 2008. During the last few laps of the race in Spa Francorchamps, rain started to lash hard and a distant number two Lewis Hamilton started to gain ground on race leader Kimi Raikkonen. When Hamilton was about to pass Raikkonen, the Finn pushed the McLaren driver wide onto the grass and Hamilton had to cut the track to gain his position. Hamilton was told by his team to give back the position which he briefly did and on the very next corner, the driver got passed Raikkonen once again. Raikkonen eventually crashed into the wall and Hamilton won the race.
Later on, the stewards analyzed the incident and clarified that Hamilton did not do much in giving the track position back to Raikkonen and as a result, slapped a 25 second post-race penalty on him. This put Hamilton in third place behind Massa and Heidfeld. Later, records proved that when Hamilton gave the position back to the Ferrari driver, he was 6 km/hour slower. as According to F! rules, his speed qualified as backing out and thus the penalty was harsh.
When asked why Ferrari happily accepted the Spa decision back in 2008 and consider the recent decision as harsh, Domenicali said that Silverstone was a different scenario and needs a different approach and the two incidents cannot be compared.
One fails to understand how the two incidents are different. Firstly, both Hamilton and Alonso cut the corner to overtake their opponent to ‘gain an unfair advantage’ Secondly, both drivers refused to give back the place and thirdly, the rivals of both drivers soon retired. As a result, it was impossible to give back the position and finally, both drivers received penalties.
If there was any difference in two incidents and if they had to be a different treatment, it should probably have benefitted Hamilton not Alonso. Hamilton at least gave back the position briefly while Alonso right away refused to do that. Alonso and Ferrari were told on three occasions to give the position back while in the case of Hamilton, McLaren asked the stewards if Hamilton’s slowing down was enough and they were told that he had achieved it.
Eventually, it was Hamilton that was stitched up by the stewards - a decision that Ferrari happily welcomed to accept the gifted victory. While today, Ferrari had a problem with a similar incident that carries much more question marks.
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