The controversial sanction of the FIA a Fernando Alonso for driving in “unsafe conditions” in the United States Grand Prix After that the right rear view mirror came off from his Alpine A522 recalled another that took place 16 years ago.
In the classification of 2006 Monza Grand Prixthe then champion was sanctioned for allegedly blocking Philip Massa when I was on a fast lap in Q3.
The Asturian, with his damaged renaultalways kept a distance from the Brazilian to reach the finish line and start his fast lap, but the stewards considered that he had committed an infraction and sanctioned him with five positions less on the grid.
After that, Fernando Alonso arrived at a press conference showing his disapproval of the penalty with the thumb down and, before the media, his show started.
“Looking at the video, if this is considered a voluntary obstruction, from now on we are going to have a lot of problems in qualifying and I don’t know how we are going to race today if this distance (100 meters) is minimal between the cars. I am a athlete, I love sports, to the fans who come here, many of them from Spain. I no longer consider Formula 1 as a sport“He pointed out in one of the most remembered statements in the ‘Great Circus’.
2006 Q3 Monza penalty for Alonso is the worst penalty in the history of our sport btw.
Penalized for giving a slipstream a pic.twitter.com/LeSPGKmkw5
— 🅽🅸🅺🅺🅸 ALONSO🇪🇸 (@NikkiAlottel15) November 6, 2021
Flavio Briatore appeared alongside him and also charged the FIA: “Fernando was penalized yesterday without having bothered Massa at any time”.
“Everyone knows what happened to Fernando yesterday with the tire; when it stopped, before going back out on the track, we had to check that there was nothing broken and when he came out on the track I told him to turn around as if it were qualifying and he passed the finish line with one second left to finish the tests. We do not want to enter into a debate against the decision, think for yourselves. We are very upset with what happened because Fernando took a lot of risks on that lap,” added the Italian.
Far from admitting the error, MaxMosley, President of the International Automobile Federation (FIA), defended the sanction against the reigning champion.
“He always says these things that no athlete should say when he’s hot. When you think calmly about what happened, you think differently,” he said.
“The commissioners have limited themselves to applying the regulation, regardless of the names of those involved. The data we have is that Felipe Massa was bothered by Alonso’s turbulence in the Parabolic corner and that made him lose time,” he settled.
This Thursday, the FIA will issue its verdict on the ‘Fernando Alonso case’. Haas’s protest was 24 minutes late and a member of the body told Alpine that the car was in optimal conditions to roll… but it seems difficult for them to sing the ‘mea culpa’.
Alonso avait raison quand il considérait plus la f1 comme un sport à Monza 2006… #F1 pic.twitter.com/67OUl8x68P
— Alpine F1 TEAM FAN FR 🇫🇷 (@AlpineF1Team_fr) October 24, 2022
