Alonso fumes after Hamilton penalty, Ferrari calls result “a scandal”

Posted on Author Keith Collantine

Fernando Alonso called the result of the European “unreal and unfair” after falling from third place behind the safety car to ninth at the chequered flag (before being promoted to eighth).

Meanwhile Lewis Hamilton got a drive-through penalty for overtaking the safety car yet still finished second.

Alonso said:

I think it was unreal this result and unfair as well.

We respected the rules, we don’t overtake under the yellows and we finish ninth. That is something to think about.

It completely destroyed the race. Hopefully we can move forward because after the victory of Vettel and podium for McLaren ninth place is very little points for us.

We need to apologise to the 60 to 70 thousand people who came to see this kind of race.

They gave a penalty already to Hamilton but it was too late – 30 laps to investigate one overtake.
Fernando Alonso

The stewards were also considering whether to penalise nine drivers for their speed behind the safety car, a decision which has not yet been taken.

The delay in giving a penalty to Hamilton, combined with the gap opening up behind him because of the slow Kobayashi, meant he didn’t lose a place when he took his drive-through.

But he lost a lot of time to Sebastian Vettel and was unable to challenge him for the lead at the end of the race.

Hamilton denied he overtook the safety car deliberately, saying:

I saw the safety car was pretty much alongside me, I thought I passed it so I continued.
Lewis Hamilton

However it does appear from replays that he might have backed off at first, unsure whether to overtake the safety car or not.

Alonso may suspect Hamilton backed off deliberately to prevent him from getting past the safety car as well – but if he’d had the awareness to do that, surely he’d have also made sure he stayed ahead of the safety car himself?

This controversy could have been avoided had the stewards made their decision more quickly. This is not the first time we’ve seen them take a long time to make an important call like this one.

Update: Ferrari described the race as a “scandal” in a statement:

A scandal, that’s the opinion of so many fans and employees who are all in agreement: there is no other way to describe what happened during the European Grand Prix. The way the race and the incidents during it were managed raise doubts that could see Formula 1 lose some credibility again, as it was seen around the world.

Update 2: Ferrari continue their criticism, issuing this quote from Piero Ferrari:

I am incredulous and bitter, not just for Ferrari, but for the sport as a whole, as this is not the sort of thing one expects from professionals. For a long time now, I have also followed races in championships in the United States, where the appearance of the Safety Car is a frequent occurrence, but I have never seen anything similar to what happened today at the Valencia circuit. If it raises some doubts over the actions that led to a false race, to me that would seem more than reasonable.

2010 European Grand Prix

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352 comments on “Alonso fumes after Hamilton penalty, Ferrari calls result “a scandal””

  1. As much as you might hate Alonso he does have a point.

    Like 10 laps to decide whether or not Hamilton passed the safety car? The first time the BBC commentators saw the replay they spotted it immediately.

        1. People don’t like Hamilton moaning in Australia about strategy, and Monaco about his brakes. People don’t like Vettel moaning on the radio in Canada saying he is immature… When it happens to Alonso there he is an exception to the rule or something?

          1. The trouble is drivers are often criticised for towing the party line and with their PR speak, but as soon as they complain they also receive criticism.

        2. It was stupid how long it took. I just didn’t like the way all Alonso cared about was if Hamilton got owned rather then focusing on passing people to get back to where he belonged.

          1. Ferrari’s hilarious self righteousness is a joy to behold though, these things balance themselves out over time, just because the stewards took a while to deliver a punishment, an this is usually how long it takes, it doesn’t mean F1 is going to loose credibility, just Ferrari’s going to loose some points.

            Ferrari were slightly robbed no doubt, however there vitriolic reaction ain’t doing them any favours.

          2. Hamilton got away with murder again.

            Most unfair result, and the witch hunt that followed (drivers penalised left right and centre) is only proof that the stewards know they completely messed up the race. This pathetic attempt at ‘doing something’ about the situation just made matters look even worse.

            At the same time, Kobayashi’s race was a joy to watch. If only Ferrari had had the balls to gamble once their race was destroyed, they might have salvaged some important points.

            What a season!

          3. @Senor Paz,

            I think you need to ask yourself how many times Ferrari have benefited from long (or deferred) decisions over the years. Also did Alonso really loose out that much as a result? He surely would have been as most 1 place forward if Hamilton had been brought in earlier. Alonso had a bad race and as usual instead of admitting that he would rather blame others.

    1. This clearly was not a deliverate tactic. It was very, very obvious he was unclear what to do. How the heck could he have done this deliberately to push Alonso back.
      Alonso is still acting like a little boy that he is. Still smarting from Lewis whipping him at McClaren in his rookie year. Poor,Poor boy. Somebody give him his dummy back quick.

      1. If Hamilton purposly slowed the Ferrari’s to get them behind the safety car it was impecably timed!

        Blindingly obvious he was unsure and hesitated.

        1. I think the “little boy” comments are referring to his petulant radio messages, wanting Hamilton to pay, and then wanting to know how many places he lost – not particularly sporting.

          1. Not particularly sporting!?!

            Asking about the status of one of your closest championship rivals is hardly unsporting behavior. He obviously thought that Hamilton stood to gain from breaking the rules, and that he could have followed him and done the same if it was to improve his race.

      2. lol @ David & scribe! Both of you bang on the money!
        The hypocrisy of that Ferrari statement didn’t escape me either. I remember plenty of times where Ferrari benefited from “iffy” stewards decisions.
        Alonso didn’t really care about anything other than needing to get Hamilton heavily penalised, he should have put it behind him and concentrated on the race, not whinged and whined over the radio.
        Did no one clock the body language from Alonso when Lewis won last time? Alonso looked like he was going to be sick! lol

        1. The constant referral to past incidents has nothing to do with what happen here. I’m sure all the drivers complain on the radio. Alonso’s was on featured because it had relevance since he was following Hamilton and at the time.

      3. “This clearly was not a deliverate tactic.”

        “Blindingly obvious he was unsure and hesitated.”

        I love it, how can you people be so sure? I’m not going to accuse Hamilton of deliberate cheating, but it sure looked bad. The only person that knows the real intention behind that moment of hesitation is Hamilton himself, and I think his statements after the race are suspiciously defensive on the matter.

        Either way, the result is most unfair and Alonso is surely allowed to feel ripped off. That’s racing, unfortunate things happen, move on.

        1. Can somebody explain to me exactly what happened as if I know nothing? I missed that tiny segment of the race and it has proven to be the most talked about part! :(

        2. @Senor Paz.

          Please explain exactly how Alonso was backed up? He was far too far behind to be backed up by Hamilton. If he was being backed up he would have been much closer at the time of the incident. Alonso is being childish as usual as he under performed in front of his home crowd. As you are so clearly on the side of fair play I hope you were this defensive of Hamilton over the last few years when he has been on the other end of the unfair decisions……

    1. It was no where near 30 laps. The safety car incident happened on or about lap 11, and Hamilton served his drive through on lap 27, 3 laps after the penalty was announced. So 14 laps at the most.

      El grumpio continues..

          1. Manu (possibly below me) is absolutely right this not the first time, they always give reprimends (hope i spelled it right. But why do the stewards like Hamilton so much…

          2. Geel was talking abouting Hamilton not McLaren. He was talking about the 2008 where he got penalties completely incorrectly and when Massa was seemingly let off lightly for a couple of offences.

          3. Manu: ‘2008 season? When McLaren stole Ferrari’s designs and got away with it?’

            With the active participation of Fernando Alonso as far as I remember, but you evidently don’t. And they didn’t exactly ‘get away with it.’

          4. @Manu

            Which was triggered by Ferrari cheating with a design that was specifically developed to pull the wool over the eyes of the race stewards! Oh and Renault had even more designs from Maclaren and got away with no punishment at all!

          1. McLaren did not steal anything from Ferrari, what happened was, a handful of people including Alonso did their best to damage McLaren.

    2. Absolutely not. That’s because Ferrari wanted the penalty even before the race started!

      The SC car incident happened around Lap 10-11. If it is not for Alonso’s insistence on talking to Charlie, this probably would not have been investigated at all.

      According to FOX transmission here, there was no notice from stewards until lap 23. So, somewhere during lap 23-24 they must have shown the graphic of “Stewards investigating car #2″.

      In lap #25, the drive through was given.

      In lap #28, the drive through was done.

        1. Absolutely not. What I am saying is that this incident would not have been noted if not for Alonso telling his team to inform Charlie. He said that only after the race restarted and they found out that they were not getting any points.

          The only way that race control would have known of the incident is through the video (which they did not broadcast). So, saying that the stewards were aware of the incident from the time it happened (lap 10) is not right.

          That’s all I am getting at.

          1. Totally agree! I think the reason the decision took so long was because Alonso was the only person who knew there had been a breach of the rules. BBC coverage had no idea of the incident until his first radio transmission, which would probably be the first time anyone else was aware. I’m pretty sure the stewards won’t get much advance on what we see and by the time we were seeing car 2 under investigation, we knew what the issue was and the penalty was issued. If Alonso had said nothing then I don’t think anyone would have been aware of the rule infringement. I think the real issue is that Alonso knows his biggest concern when it comes to the championship is Hamilton and he wants to do anything within his control to try and hold him back. It didn’t work out today though. Not such a dissimilar situation to when Rosberg at Williams put in personal best laps when served with a drive though and retained his position (I forget which track). I don’t remember such a big fuss being made then.

  2. Alonso needs to calm down, or else he’ll get hauled up on Article 151, whatever it might cover…

    As I mentioned in the live blog, it’s quite ironic that the key to Hamilton taking a drive-through without a position loss happens to have a Ferrari engine in the back, although if the 9(?) drivers get penalised 30s, it’ll push Alonso up the order because of Kobayashi bottling the pack…

  3. Alonso can just pick up his toys, put them back in the pram and go home quite frankly. Hamilton did something wrong (barely, mind you), got a penalty which was served in good time and quite correctly – and that’s it, end of story. That’s how it has to work – consistent, sensible stewarding, or all hell breaks loose.

    It’s not like Alonso was having a good race, was it? Aside from some decent aggressive moves at the start, he was invisible all day just sitting happily in 9th. If he’d been properly effective, charging up e the field after his stop under the SC I could understand his frustration but quite frankly… he wasn’t!

    1. The issue is that the penalty was not given in good time. The gap between Hamilton and Kobayashi gradually became so large that the penalty became a non-penalty. This was not sensible stewarding.

      1. Read my above comment MVI, the penalty was served in 14 laps. Unlike the other nine looming penalties.. were it not for the presence of KOB holding up the pack, HAM might have ended up in 8th or 9th, and nobody would have been saying anything other than ‘HAM got a deserved penalty, end of story’.

        1. I read your comment JSC. You don’t think 14+ laps is a long time? That’s over 20 minutes and it sounds like an unnecessarily long time to look into the matter. Doesn’t the Safety Car mention that it has been passed?
          Lap 9 SC was called
          Lap 10 SC comes out in front of Alonso and Maasa, with Vettel and Hamilton pitting. Lap 14 SC pits at the end of the lap
          Lap 20/21 announcement Hamilton being investigated
          Lap 22 Talk of soon Hamilton would be able to save his position even if he got a penalty.
          Lap 25 Hamilton given a penalty and pushes to maximize distance to Kobayashi
          Lap 27 Hamilton serves penalty and comes out ahead of Kobayashi

          1. My point is simple. 20 minutes is nothing in in terms of how long it takes for resolution of most F1 investigations, and I’m sure everybody here can cite dozens of examples. At the end of the day, if KOB had not been there to ‘preserve’ HAM’s place, he would have ended up back near 10th and nobody would have been complaining about the length of time it took for him to b penalised. In my opninion, its just more Ferrari sour grapes directed at McLaren and Race Control, while they ignore the point that KOB was the one who turned a usually acceptable penalty into a ‘no-penalty’. And that’s just racing.

          2. The whole reason this was even investigated is because ALO asked his team to talk to Charlie. Otherwise, I doubt this would have even been investigated.

            So, the stewards probably did look at it and make a decision in reasonable time. It’s just that it did not get to the stewards until Ferrari talked to Charlie to investigate the situation.

          3. Kob set the tone for the entire race. His lack of pace on a non-overtaking track allowed Hamilton to keep his second and Vettel to remain unchallenged for the entire race.
            That’s racing.

          4. This arguing is doing my head in. If this had happened to a Ferrari driver we would not hear anything about it.

            Build a bridge and get over it.

            There is plenty of time for Alonso to stamp his dominance over Hamilton if Ferrari can actually catch Mclaren and Red Bull on the road.

        2. @JSC
          Your point about it being 14 laps is ridiculous. The 14 laps were not 1:40 lap times, the majority were set behind the safety car. The real measure of how long it took should be measured in ‘Time’ not laps, and that the length of ‘time’ it took was too long because it negated the penalty.

          1. The time was normall is his point, an probably not much could be done to speed it up.

            The other point is no one could have legislated for Kobayashi, he negated Hamiltons penalty but thats racing, can’t change the regs because it benefited Hamilton.

          2. Alonso was unable to “stamp his dominance over Hamilton” in the same car, in Hamiltons rookie season, and he is not going to manage it this year either !

          3. @Cacarella,

            If you look back over the seasons, hamilton has been on the wrong end (and ferrari on the good end) of similar situations where a penalty has taken an age to be decided or even a couple where the decision has been left until after the race (despite plenty of the race left to make a decision). It happens and I am pretty sure the stewards did not even know about the problem until Alonso flagged it up to his team. A couple more feet ahead and Hamilton would not have been punished. It also did not particularly affect Alonsos race either.

  4. It was fair enough that Hamilton got a penalty, which he served, but I also don’t think he did it deliberately. I think he was hesitant about what to do and this unwillingly affected Alonso.

    I also detect anger not just at Hamilton but at himself for letting Kobayashi past at the end and generally not being able to get up ahead. Sour grapes in other words.

    1. I agree, Hamilton was clearly unsure whether he should pass or not. Had he **not** been unsure of himself, he would have driven quikcer and evaded the problem. If he did just miss the line and effectively overtake the SC, the penalty seems fair.

      What annoys me extremely though is the bad faith of Alonso and Ferrari in breaking testing regulations and then complaining so heavily about etheir bad luck here.

      1. I guess you were annoyed too when Schumacher was trying out some Mercedes enhancements back in May during a filming day. It may be against the intended spirit of testing regulations but it isn’t against the wording, much like double diffusers and F-ducts.

        1. “Alonso fumes after Hamilton penalty, Ferrari calls result a scandal”

          Because Alonso or Ferrari have never fixed a Grand Prix before. COUGH COUGH Austria, COUGH COUGH Singapore.

        2. No, I’m annoyed more because of the way Alonso has the temerity to use the word ‘scandal’ in Formula 1 for something both marginal and relatively minor when he himself has been directly and ‘indirectly’ (cough indeed!) embroiled in two of the biggest scandals in recent years – Spygate and Singapore and for which he emerged in all his Teflonso glory. Hamilton was penalized today essentially for being unsure what to do in a situation not of his making. Worse was hearing Alonso over the radio unhappy that the punishment hadn’t affected Hamilton. Just nasty stuff. Hope Massa trounces him for the rest of the season!

        1. Hamilton was level as the SC came out – had he accelerated, he would have avoided any problem. Precisely because he was unsure whether to accelerate or break he ended up penalized. Unless you take the line he dithered on purpose – but as Keith pointed out above, if he was that cynical, he wouldn’t have allowed himself to be caught out.

          Testing – nothing. Ferrari calling this incident a ‘scandal’ – everything since they’ve just circumvented an agreement purposely as they themselves admit, rather than making a mistake. This is all bluster from Alonso and Ferrari because they failed to deliver in Valencia and want to throw some dirt in the air to head off the testing row. Kind of obvious. Just hope Massa starts beating Alonso and gives him something else to obsess about rather than Hamilton.

        2. Just the way testing has nothing to do with this incident, Hamilton’s SC issue had nothing to do with Alonso’s performance yesterday – the spaniard should have focused on his driving

  5. I’m going to start by saying I don’t begrudge Ham this second place. It’s done now.

    However, the thing was ridiculous. It took so long for a decision that the effects were nullified. Comparing to where the Ferrari’s ended up it was a sweet deal. They can’t give Ferrari more points but this seriously wasn’t equal in my opinion. For the points, I wish Alonso had jumped the SC it may have been different. Although what I would really like is quick and effective decisions when there is clear rule breaking.

    1. I wish Alonso had jumped the SC…

      That’s the point. Alonso SHOULD have pass safety car also.

      If race stewards impose a penalty, BOTH drivers were involved. If not, both drivers would have retained their previous positions.

      As it’s said in Spain: “Alonso, Hamilton has stolen your wallet in front of your eyes”

      Next time pay more attention to what really matters, and less complain!

      That said… maybe FIA, Teams, Drivers should talk about Safety Car rules. But this is another story.

      1. Hamilton passed the Safety Car from being fractionally behind and got a penalty. RC were focussing on the Safety Car protocal while it was out on track, thats part of the delay in investigating it.

        If Alonso had followed him then that would have been far more serious and been a possible disqualification surely as he was very clearly completely behind the Safety Car at that time.

        Perhaps you should all stop complaining quite so much about a perfectly normal and valid situation with regards to the penalty issuing. I bet none of you complained about the amount of time it took Alonso to get his jump start penalty, and you all probably think that he won Singapore in 2008 fair and square.

        1. Behind is the key word. Fractional or not. The safety car is deployed and visual to Hamilton and he passed it. He hesitation gave it away he was going to slow down and then decided to pass.

      2. #IDR

        Do you know why LH father is not more his manager?

        Yes, he discover he´s real father was Charlie Whiting.
        Never minds what he does: without fuel in Canada or overtake SC in Valencia.

        It´s a tricky man like he begun complaining at Monaco 2007 and do his best at Hungaroring 2007.

        Nice boy with an angel face!!!

        1. It is unbelievable. All this boils down to one thing. Alonso thinks he has a right to win, and he know that he can not beat Hamilton in a fair race. SIMPLE.

          Hamilton made a mistake, and lost the race to Vettel because of it.

          And yes. Hamilton is great.

          1. I think that is the miserable thing here – we are discussing the whining of a grown man who cannot just accept that he can be beaten by LH – he will always be looking for reasons as to why he is behind Lewis ie either McLaren are favoring Lewis, oh, i am in a dog of a car at Renault and now FIA are giving Lewis preferential treatment – anybody who witnessed FIA decisions in 2008 and that would be everybody including cry baby Alonso would know there is no way FIA can give Lewis preferential treatment – and to imagine that an outfit of Ferrar’s profile is actually throwing its weight behind this kind of whining! aargh! Is LDM getting senile or something!

    2. Thats the whole point isn’t it, it can’t be right that Alonso would have still finished third if he’d followed Hamilton and broke the rules. Its a travesty, i know these things happen in racing but you can understand why Alonso and his fans were absolutely fuming. That they took 30 laps to decide something which would have taken 2 replays to work out is a discrace.

      1. Ads you’ve summed it up for me.

        ” it can’t be right that Alonso would have still finished third if he’d followed Hamilton and broke the rules”

        Clearly something wrong and to add insult to injury

        “That they took 30 laps to decide something which would have taken 2 replays to work out”

        COTD for me Ads. I think you’re bang on with what the issue is.

        It’s done now but I think something should be done for the future which is what I said first so I don’t think I’m complaining that much :P

        PS Keith I keep getting that I move too fast/post comments too quickly but I leave at least ten mins between them if not more because I was watching the match. I just thought I’d let you know in case anyone else was having this problem.

        1. Great comment of the day considering it only took 14 laps between the safety car going out and the penalty being awarded.

          I’m sure you could still consider that a lot but bear in mind race control was very likely to be slightly preoccupied with an F1 car DOING A BACKFLIP AT 200 M/HR LANDING UPSIDE DOWN AND CRASHING INTO THE BARRIER.

          1. Sorry about the shouting… turned on the stupid caps lock then accidentally pressed tab to turn it off, which submitted the post… :(

            Race control took a long time, but very far from the 30 laps being suggested especially if you consider the priority during a safety car period. I agree it still took far too long, but the way the FIA now operates it will be completely cleared within a race or two.

            This is really being blown way out of proportion. Any other team, probably any other driver even, pulling this and Ferrari – especially Alonso – wouldn’t have cried so much.

            I’m rather disappointed with Alonso, he should be above this and focus on his own race. He’s calling the race a farce even though it wouldn’t have made a difference for his finishing position at all, only Hamilton’s. Really unprofessional.

          2. It’s ok mistakes happen with caps. I also said COTD for me. Not for the site but for me. I felt Ads points were valid even if the actual numbers may have been off which I was trying to make clear in my post.

            It may not have made any difference to Alonso’s final finishing position but it allowed his main championship rival to get 2nd. It was also interpreted by some -including me- as a punishment which by the time it was given that did not fit the crime.

      2. Spot on Ads. And to answer BS saying that he is disappointed with Alonso complaining when his position wasn’t compromised, is the typical argument of a Hamilton blind fan. So know you can’t call unfairness when it happens because it’s unprofessional ? Tell that to Hamilton, who has been a continuous whiner since he started his career in F1.

        1. OK what should happen to Hamilton….be disqualified. Or maybe the race should be given to Alonso. Alonso has a permanent monk on when it comes to Hamilton. Since Hamilton out drove him when both were at McLaren

          1. Look can we please stop the bashing on either side? I know these two are figures which will always evoke strong reactions but let’s just debate as some excellent points have been made on both sides of the argument. On a positive note I am really enjoying the debate.

            To address John’s point, I personally don’t feel anything should be done now. It’s too late. It’s not that anything should be given to Alonso he got what he deserved in terms of strategy etc the point was that Hamilton didn’t lose out by what happened really in comparison and we can noly speculate as to where he would be had he not overtaken the SC or had he allowed Alo to do the same. I’m not saying that he deliberately blocked Alo there as I think he hesitated but the result was the same despite intent which is always open for interpretation.

          2. Well, since Lewis is getting a bit of a reputation even with commentators of being a somewhat regular infringer of the rules… a little more than a slap on the wrist is merited. In canada he first stopped a perfectly healthy car on track. Anybody who thinks that the team didn’t do this to meet minimum weight requirement must be dreaming (oh, i want twice as much of whatever you’re on). Then in the same race, he raced while using more than the track (and this he has done before and once was penalized as well) while coming out of the pits… Let us not forget the shining beacon of all, the liegate :P

            Somebody needs to take McMerc aside and tell them that they should take care to avoid another big fine… and the driver, could possibly face a race ban or two, as a stern reminder thanks to continous infringements of one or the other kind…

            I understand why FIA may be reluctant to do any of the above. The reason is that most of the F1 media is British and the outcry would be huge. Hamilton is popular and frankly, both the McLaren driver’s (Alonso and Lewis) in 2007 were only spared as Ecclestone made it very clear before the very crucial WMSC hearing that he’d much rather prefer Lewis over Kimi as champion. I think this is why you see Lewis still get away with stuff than most other drivers. It is the love of Mr. E that keeps him out of trouble :) There, i said it! Does not matter what you and i think… F1 was and still is, Mr. E’s biatch :P

          1. Just going to add on the end of all this, China, Alonso broke the rules, was handed a penalty for a highly simple infraction very late, saftey car negated it.

            Thats racing, an thats whats happened today, Teflonso has a whole lot of cheek to call this a scandal, especially considering what he’s been caught up in over the years.

  6. Alonso is just bitter because he didn’t have the chance to pull off the same maneuver. If he had the chance, he would do it just like any other driver.

      1. Look at the replay of this situation again. Alonso was in a bad place in a bad time, that’s why he is ******. Safety car came out more or less alongside Hamilton, giving him the opportunity to do what he did (and what he was penalized for).

  7. Alonso, are you always crying? But you didn´t cry when they only gave you a drive through and you took advantage when you jump started in one of the first races.

    1. Edu, if you recall, in that race Button complained when Alonso jumped the start. Did you say Button was crying? You seem to get very emotional when it comes to Alonso for some reason.

      1. Well, Button just pointed it out. Once. And considering he was still racing him for position it made sense.

        But if you continuously bitch about a single occurrence that has been penalized and served during a Grand Prix I’d say that constitutes crying. Not to mention beyond unprofessional (just like Hamilton crying in Australia about the extra pit stop decision).

        It’s a shame for Ferrari, nothing less. But for as far as I understand it the problem isn’t Alonso finishing 9th but Hamilton finishing 2nd instead of 8th, correct?

        Half the point scorers are under investigation for speeding, Webber made a backflip in the most badass crash since Kubica in Montreal running into the back of a B-class F1 car… and THIS is supposed to be the scandal of the race… a slow FIA that didn’t cost Ferrari a single position?


        1. Well, there still is a certain unfairness that if you do an illegal move you get penalized so late (why?) that you benefit from having done the move, while someone a meter behind you stays legal and gets no benefit. It cost Ferrari relative position with respect to McLaren.

          I don’t think there is any reason here to be talking of ‘bitching’ and ‘crying’ and ‘beyond unprofessional’.

          1. I’m not disagreeing that this is yet another fail by the FIA. If it takes this long to give out this kind of penalty it starts to lose its purpose.

            With regards to the results being ‘unfair’, this balances out over time and there will pretty much always be losers to unexpected events. The only reason the mysterious safety car in China wasn’t elevated to a ‘scandal’ was because Rosberg, Kubica and Petrov don’t drive for Ferrari, who incidentally benefited greatly from that safety car period.

            Crying and bitching might be overly theatrical words, but Alonso’s conversation with his engineer regarding Hamilton’s position was totally pointless. If he was still busy with an unreachable driver 7 places up, it’s no wonder he failed to pass Buemi. I really think both Alonso and his engineer should have handled that much more professionally. They had some bad luck in the pits stops, which happens to everybody and just focused their frustration on a relative position loss that didn’t (or at least shouldn’t have) made any difference for Alonso’s race. He couldn’t even get past Buemi, let alone Hamilton.

          2. I like your comment here as it is neutral on superlatives for the bad that’s being done.

            I had the same feeling of the call for a penalty being to late to make it fit the crime (although not done on purpose) as i had with Rosberg in the 2008 Singapore race.

            And it is not the first time this year the FIA were cought out in relation to a safetycar period. Although for me the point of having almost half the finishing cars investigated after the race for speeding under SC is even more of a scandal.

          1. He just said that Hamilton cried himself during Australia. This is what really annoys me about any arguement about Hamilton or Alonso. If you make a point, reasonable or not, you get called a fanboy. It’s the F1 equivilent of comparing someone to Hitler- you fail to adress the issues in the comment. What happened today was unfortunate, but BS was simply making the point that Alonso should not have whined so continuously to his team and media. I lost respect for Hamilton doing it, and I’ve lost respect for Alonso doing. And yes, I am a fan of Hamilton, but that does not make me a fanboy as I still have enough rationality to judge a situation properly regardless of my preferance.

          2. ^ What matt said. :)

            Although reading back my wording wasn’t very subtle, sorry about that.

            As for the world cup, I’m dutch and we’re doing alright so far. :)

  8. the safety car should have come out in front of Vettal.
    if it had there would have been even more trouble as the cars behind would have dived into the pits and even jumped Vettal..

    so no cars should be allowed to pit till they have done one lap behind the Safety Car, otherwise this will continual to happen.

    really its no ones fault just the rules are not correct for this situation.

    1. I completely disagree. We had that rule very recently when no cars were allowed to pit until all cars were lined up after the safety car and it was the worst safety car rule ever. That’s why it was changed back to the old format with some slight modifications.

  9. Worst F1 race i’ve ever seen… can’t belive they take so long to analyse such things… The SC driver should’ve told the FIA Hami overtook him right away… and action must have been taken in seconds…

    A drive throught isn’t a harsh penalty for someone who overtook the SC. It only costs 10 secs or so. Those 9 drivers might get a even worst penalty for doing nothing worse than Ham.

  10. It sounds ironic to see Alonso complaining about a race adulterated by a safety car deployment. It looks like he has forgotten what happened on singapour 2008.

  11. Hamilton did overtake the safety car.

    The safety car had passed the white line in the pit lane so was “on track” at the time of the incident.

    It was right that Hamilton got the penalty but McLaren were brilliant in ensuring that Hamilton lost as little time as possible, allowing him to serve his penalty, but still keep his position.

    End of story really. Great race by Mclaren.

    1. “McLaren were brilliant in ensuring that Hamilton lost as little time as possible”

      You must be joking. 30 laps to decide a penalty and your conclusion is McLaren were brilliant? No, you are brilliant…

      1. No, you are brilliant…

        I don’t appreciate that comment one bit.

        I was just making the point that McLaren did what they could to make sure Lewis kept his position.

        It was right that Hamilton was penalised but it’s hardly McLaren’s fault that the stewards took an age to make their decision and to give the penalty.

    2. Ok then, let’s brake all rules and declare war to everybody.

      The rules are rules if you brake them you have to receive a huge penalty, it’s been so many times McLaren are breaking the rules that I start to laugh, surely next time the FIA will sue a clarification on the rules as they did in Canada. Lol

  12. I agree with Keith.

    Very appropriately, he has given the blame to the slow stewarding and not to either Alonso or Hamilton.

    Formula One is a fast sport. The fastest one infact. Why the hell is its stewarding the slowest!!

  13. Alonso’s race was destroyed once the SC is out after he passed the pit lane, while Button and the other people behind him did not and could still pit under SC. It’s unlucky for Alonso and the same thing happened to other drivers before. but Alonso talks like it was Hamilton who destroyed his race, not unless he intended to overtake the SC under yellow as well, but could not because do so because of Hamilton.

    I LOLed after Hamilton came out in 2nd after his DT, thinking how Alonso is about to explode in his cockpit, hahaha.

  14. So, let’s get this straight. ALO is complaining that HAM shouldn’t have overtaken the safety car and should have been penalized. Let’s just say HAM was behind ALO, it still would have had ALO exactly where he was after the pit stop (just HAM behind). If HAM had not passed the safety car, ALO would be in the same position, jus that HAM would have been one ahead of him.

    Is he saying that had HAM not slowed and then overtook the safety car, they both could have passed the safety car in time?

    1. This is the essential comment, Mr. Nut. And more to the point, they both would have been harmed because of Kobayashi’s dawdling. The sum of Ferrari’s comments is that it doesn not really matter what happened to them, as long as Lewis Hamilton suffered as well. The fact that KOB drank Fred’s milkshake again at the end just makes Alonso look like a hack as well as a fool as well as a whiner.

      Sorry if its brought up below, but I find it ironic that Fred’s fail with Kobayashi at the end is the kind of thing that got Trulli sacked from Renault, when Fred was in the other car, at Magny Cours. Trulli had to have a wry smile when he learned of this shocking bit of hackery.

    2. He implies exactly that. Had Hamilton raced on, Alonso would also have had time to pass the SC, but that’s an “if” point.
      What Alonso said (in the spanish press, they usually cite him to the end of the cite) was that “Vettel should have won, but Hamilton should have been 8th and Alonso himself 9th”

      1. Fair enough and thanks for sorting out the usually misleading press quotes. But I have a hard time reconciling the specific comments about manipulation and injustice with the purpose of wanting the man who finished P2 to have been only less far ahead. Does Ferrari think they are only racing Hamilton for the WDC? Button must feel rather slighted by Ferrari’s drama.

    1. That’s not Alonso’s complaint though. Ham’s rcae didn’t get ruined. He got ahead. Alo never had a chance of beating him because of what happened. He doesn’t blame Ham for ruining his race but that the whole incident wasn’t fair

        1. Not intentionally breaking the rules tho. We all saw his indecision on the on-board.

          I believe the problem was a slowly deployed safety car. It took an age from the time of the crash to the SC to get out on track. Yeah we all know drivers are told the SCs been deployed but you dont expect for it to pick you up when your running P2 when there is enough time for it to pick up the leader. Least of all running side by side with it down to turn 2.

          So, Poor race control IMO.

          Im in agreement that HAM broke the rules and was given correct punishment.
          I also agree the ALO was hard done by. But calling the race result “unfair and “a scandal” is a bit of overeacting i think.

          Singapore 08, Now thats a scandal…

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