Lap 22 of United States Grand Prix in Austin. Fernando Alonso take the slipstream of Aston-Martin of Lance Strollenters the aspiration and positions himself to overtake his future teammate, but the Canadian changes his course and causes an impact with the Asturian.
The two-time world champion Formula 1 he literally flies off, collides with the protections, keeps the car on the track… and manages to reach the pits.
From there, the ‘Fernando Alonso case’ begins. The man from Oviedo changes tires and front nose, but no one warns that the right mirror is loose, nor the FIA.
complete absence of black and orange flags or messages from the stewards until hours after the race, a penalty of 30 seconds against Alpine for losing a mirror in the middle of the track.
In this way, and pending the final verdict of the FIA on Thursday, Alonso was relegated to fifteenth position after a heroic seventh place.
This injustice has been harshly attacked by authorized voices of the ‘Great Circus’. Damon Hillworld champion in 1996, and Jacques VilleneuveFormula 1 winner in 1997, have been among the toughest.
Williams’s ex has slipped that it was correct a Race Direction error by not telling Alpine about Fernando’s rearview mirror.
“I have been reading about this case of Alonso and Alpine. What is going on? Are the stewards upset with the race directors? It sounds worse than the Conservative Party!” He wrote on his official Twitter account.
Been reading about this @alo_oficial @AlpineF1Team Case. What is going on? Stewards upset with Race Directors? It sounds worse than the Conservative Party! #f1
— Damon Hill (@HillF1) October 24, 2022
Villeneuve, much more forceful
The 1997 F1 champion has gone further by asking the FIA to sanction Lance Strollcwith a Grand Prix if you run for “dangerous driving”.
“We saw a bit of everything: masterful driving, but also dangerous actions and poor drivers. It was a mixture of everything, but that’s what this show is about. When I talk about dangerous driving, I mean Lance Stroll. Should be suspended a race for the incident with Fernando Alonso“, you have noted in your column for ‘Formule1.nl’.
Villeneuve has described Stroll’s action as “mortal danger”: “The FIA has been very lax both in F1 and in the lower categories with drivers moving on the straights when that is the most dangerous thing there is and the last thing you want. watch. It’s pathetic and extremely dangerous.”
“When turning on the straight, endanger other drivers, possibly fatal, because you can cause a big accident like that. And that’s because you consciously decide to do something like that, not because you’re making a mistake. So it’s really unacceptable”Add.
“The FIA needs to step up and apply more sanctions for this type of action. Even if there is no accident, because we have been lucky that it has not gone wrong before. And he is already beginning to pass in the lower categories. In Formula 4 and Formula 3 you sometimes see guys driving like they’re in a video game. But racing is dangerous and this has nothing to do with racing, or good defense,” he explains.
Finally, he surrenders to Fernando for managing to get the car into points after such a terrible accident: “Alonso was lucky that it ended well for him. In fact, it was quite strange: he managed to get the car back to the pits and, after they shipped it with a new nose and new tires, he was still able to compete and score points! That Alpine is apparently as robust as a tank… and Alonso drove impressively.”
