Fifth in the British Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso attended as a privileged spectator the various passes of arms which enlivened the last laps of the race at Silverstone. Without ever having enough rhythm to be an actor, he almost took advantage of the struggles to attack Lewis Hamilton et Charles Leclerc.
After the event, the Spaniard still hoped that his finishing position would still evolve thanks to penalties. Indeed, according to him, relying on the precedent of the Canadian Grand Prix where he was penalized for multiple delays in his fight against Valtteri BottasLeclerc should also have been sanctioned by the commissioners.
“It was really fun at the end”he said of the end of the Grand Prix. “Obviously we weren’t in the fight but we were right behind and we saw all the action ahead. We were P5 so I was hoping two cars could touch each other and the podium would be there for us, but in In the end they fought hard but with a lot of respect so it was still fun to watch from behind.”
Then he added: “Like I said P5 is great. But even then I have to say it’s going to be P4 because I saw Charles make three changes of direction on the backstretch to defend against Lewis. I did once in Canada and had five seconds on the last lap, so I guess three moves aren’t allowed.”
In fact, there were two changes of direction from Leclerc in defense on Hamilton in Hangar Straight: the first to the left to deprive the seven-time World Champion of suction and the second to the right to protect the Stowe front interior. In Montreal, in addition to the fact that Alonso had shifted several times in the straight line, the element that had been highlighted by the stewards was the fact that Bottas had to ease off at some point to avoid contact.
Regarding this Sunday’s event, if Alonso was confident that the stewards would take up this case, and also that of Sergio Perez (suspected of having taken advantage of a passage off the track in the fight against Leclerc and of having forced Hamilton to leave the track), the Spaniard must have become disillusioned: the only formal decision rendered by the stewards on the race of this Sunday was the one for the penalty of Yuki Tsunodaguilty of the collision with Pierre Gasly. Meaning that all other incidents in the race were not even formally investigated, with the stewards believing that was unnecessary.