The 2022 Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix represented a good opportunity for Fernando Alonso to score many points, even to reap the 99th podium of his career if the stars aligned and his Alpine had the pace to follow Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz Jr.
However, his car was falling as the laps progressed until he was behind his teammate, Esteban Ocon, in the final laps due to a strategy in which he extended the life of his tires to the maximum. This situation, exacerbated by the Asturian’s engine problems, led him to be fighting until the last meters with Valtteri Bottas’s Alfa Romeo, which he kept at bay after some movements on the straight that the stewards investigated after the race.
Finally, after a member representing the French team and the Spanish driver himself declared what had happened at 4:30 p.m. local time (10:30 p.m. Spanish peninsular time), the FIA decided to penalize the two-time world champion with a sanction of five seconds, so he dropped from seventh to ninth place.
In spite of this, the Spaniard retains tenth place in the general classification of drivers, ahead of Pierre Gasly, although still far from Ocon, who has 39 points and escapes in his particular fight.
In the statement issued by the FIA , they explained that it was an infraction of article 2 b) of chapter IV of Appendix L of the International Sporting Regulations, and Alonso added a sanction point to his license: “The stewards listened to the driver of the car 14 (Fernando Alonso), the driver of car 77 (Valtteri Bottas) and team representatives reviewed the video and telemetry evidence of car 77.”
“Between turns 10 and 12, on the penultimate lap of the race, car 14 made repeated changes of direction to defend against car 77, which had to lift at one point and lost speed. Although they took note of the driver’s argument that at no time was car 77 alongside car 14, the stewards consider this to be a clear infringement of said regulations, therefore the stewards impose a 5 second penalty in line with that imposed for a similar incident in Australia 2022”.
“Competitors are reminded that they have the right to appeal certain decisions of the stewards, in accordance with Article 15 of the FIA International Sporting Code and Chapter 4 of the FIA Judicial and Disciplinary Regulations, within the applicable time limits.”
With this, the Spaniard accumulates a total of 6 points on his license , and if he reaches 12 in a period of one year, he will be forced to miss out on a grand prize as punishment.
