Fernando Alonso can’t understand why Lewis Hamilton didn’t get a penalty for the sprint start and says he gave up the sprint afterwards
Fernando Alonso says Lewis Hamilton doesn’t get a penalty for the first corner in Miami “because he’s not Spanish”. The Mercedes driver had driven rather optimistically into Turn 1 at the start of the sprint in Miami, causing a chain reaction that led to the retirement of Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) and Lando Norris (McLaren).
“Lewis came through like a dart,” is how Nico Hülkenberg (Haas) described it after the sprint, and Alonso also said on the radio that Hamilton came roaring through “like a bull”. The Spaniard himself suffered a puncture in the collision with teammate Stroll and then drove behind the field.
However, the stewards did not impose a penalty on Hamilton for the incident – because he is not Spanish, as Alonso suspects, having already made the same accusations a few years ago.
“I think he ruined the race for a few people, especially Norris, who had a very fast car but was involved in the accident,” said the Aston Martin driver.
Alonso’s statements come after a penalty of his own against the Spaniard during the sprint in China, when he clashed with compatriot Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) and was penalized for it, receiving a surprisingly harsh three penalty points.
Aston Martin wanted to have the penalty reviewed, but the application was rejected by the stewards
According to Nico Hülkenberg, Lewis Hamilton came flying at him “like a dart”; according to Fernando Alonso, it was “a bull”. However, the stewards did not see any punishable behavior. F1 F1Sprint MiamiGP pic.twitter.com/Qb23h0E3Mv
– Norman Fischer (@NormanMST) May 4, 2024
Alonso could also have been given a penalty in the first corner, because he was driving quite optimistically even without Hamilton’s maneuver and had also collided with Stroll. But the stewards didn’t give him a penalty either.
“Maybe I didn’t get a penalty today, but otherwise I always get penalized,” he shrugs his shoulders and says that he based the rest of his race on this when he was at the back of the field.
“I was behind Ocon and maybe I could have taken a risk and overtaken him, but quite logically I don’t take the risk to avoid being penalized,” says Alonso. “I’ll just try to get through the 19 laps and then talk to the team about changes.”
Because from his point of view, the sprint after the start was just a test drive. “We just checked the dismantling and things for tomorrow,” he reveals. “For us, this is a training session, not really a race.”
“Now the important part of the race begins: qualifying and the 57 laps tomorrow. I think we can draw a few conclusions from the sprint and see if we can improve the car a little. “