During the 2022 F1 United States Grand Prix race, Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll were involved in a serious accident in which the Spaniard was thrown into the air after hitting the rear of the Canadian’s car after the resumption of the safety car provoked by Valtteri Bottas. The one from Alpine went to the left to overtake the one who will be his partner in the next season, but in a dubious movement they ended up colliding, which caused the stewards to punish the Aston Martin one with three positions for the starting grid of the next season. Appointment in Mexico, in addition to two points in the super license.
Despite the blow, the two-time champion continued in the race with a badly damaged A522, but with which he managed to cross the finish line in seventh position, even after losing one of his mirrors when he overtook Kevin Magnussen. It was a titanic feat, but at Haas they were not satisfied with how it was done, and from the American team they decided to protest to the international federation because, according to them, the Spaniard continued to compete with elements that could be dangerous for the rest of the competitors.
That is true, as it happened on so many other occasions with the Dane, with whom they had to go through the pits in a mandatory way after seeing the flag and orange, but in the case of Fernando Alonso, at no time was the team told or to the driver himself who had to enter the pitlane to fix his car. Hours of deliberation later, with the version of both parties, the stewards decided to impose a 30-second penalty on the man from Oviedo, which caused him to fall to 15th place and remain without points.
Haas did the same with Sergio Pérez, who lost part of his front wing after a contact with Valtteri Bottas, but the Mexican did not receive any punishment and kept his fourth place at the end of Sunday. That is why a comparison can be made on how the sanctions have been applied depending on the name of the driver, with Fernando Alonso seriously affected throughout the 2022 season by the decisions of the FIA stewards.
Fernando Alonso’s first times in the FIA documents in 2022
The name of the Spanish driver did not take long to appear in the documents made public by the FIA on the resolution of the investigations, and in the third test, at the Australian Grand Prix, the international federation reviewed an action in which Kevin Magnussen, after he was overtaken by Guanyu Zhou, he overtook Alonso at turn four, forcing him to go around the outside of the track when the parallel held him.
Despite the fact that no penalty was imposed on him, the Spaniard ended up quite disappointed in the test, as a bad strategy and his accident in qualifying when he could even fight for pole position deprived him of being in the top of the points. However, it was not the only time he faced another Haas, and it is that only one appointment later, in Imola, with adverse weather conditions, he received a slight blow from Mick Schumacher at the start that left him out. at the first change.
That action was not even reviewed, something normal, since it was a racing incident for no apparent reason, but that was surely the reason why the Spaniard wanted to go all out in the next Grand Prix to remedy his abandonment.
The controversy and sanction of the Miami GP 2022 of F1 with Fernando Alonso and the FIA
Just a few days after his retirement, the two-time champion arrived in Miami wanting to do well at the premiere of a new circuit, and everything seemed to be like that when he was habitually in the points, until an unfortunate action occurred. In one of the tightest corners on the track, Alonso opted to go out because he was unable to turn the car, but he picked up on the next straight so that his records did not improve.
That was not enough for the FIA not to penalize him and they imposed a penalty of five seconds plus a point on his super license, although what is most surprising is that the stewards made their decision public once the appointment was over, so the The pilot was unable to push on the track to recover from that disadvantage. Therefore, the Spaniard was left out of the points again, not only for those five seconds, but for another five that were imposed on him for causing an accident with Pierre Gasly, in addition to two other points that were accumulated to the three that had already I had.
A short break to return to the FIA’s spotlight at the 2022 Canadian GP
After several races in which Fernando Alonso was not one of the reasons for discussion by the stewards of the international federation, the Spaniard returned as the main protagonist at the end of the race in Canada, where he was given a penalty after crossing the line again goal. That weekend, with his Alpine, he was second in the standings , and despite losing little by little with the pace, he remained above, within the points.
However, a poor choice with strategy and safety cars sent him further back, having to settle for seventh place with Valtteri Bottas. The man from Oviedo covered as much of the track as he could in the last lap, making movements that the governing body considered dangerous, and instead of collecting six points, he had to content himself with only two that remained bitter after starting in the front row of the grill.
On that occasion, the stewards defended that Alonso made several changes of direction on the straight, and after declaring before them, he was punished with five seconds and one more point on his super license, reaching half of those necessary to be excluded from a race.
Compared to other similar moves, at the famous 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Max Verstappen made a few more sharp turns than necessary to prevent Lewis Hamilton from slipstreaming him, but in any case the Dutchman was not investigated and he took his first world title in epic fashion.
The exception that confirms the rule at the 2022 Austrian GP with the FIA
In the Red Bull Ring race, Fernando Alonso suffered from Saturday, as he was unable to participate in the first sprint of the season because his Alpine stalled before even completing the formation lap. Starting last, he had no choice but to come from behind on Sunday, and that was until one of his pit stops during a safety car period when his team misfitted a wheel.
The Spaniard immediately returned to the garage to have it fitted, and in a very intelligent way saved a sanction that was almost guaranteed for rejoining in unsafe conditions, with a tire that could come off at any time. In his subsequent statements to the press he seemed somewhat unconcerned, but you could see his intentions to make the FIA believe that he had done nothing wrong, as they appreciated.
Perhaps that was the action that most clearly deserved a punishment, and although it was the fault of his mechanics, he did not stop in the middle of the track to retire, but kept going, and was able to finish tenth to score a point that tasted like glory without sanctions.
The accident with Lewis Hamilton that the FIA overlooked at the Belgian GP
At the start of the test in Spa-Francorchamps, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso were in very good positions, due to the penalties for changes in components of the power unit of the favorites, Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen. After reacting better than Sergio Pérez, both arrived in parallel at Les Combes, where the Briton closed the Spaniard causing an accident in which his Mercedes went flying through the air.
The seven-time champion was forced to retire, while the Alpine rider went on to finish fifth, one of the best results of the entire year. However, if you take it with perspective, it would be something like in the United States, where the one who causes the touch leaves and the other continues and sees the checkered flag. In that case in Belgium, Hamilton had no penalty, while Lance Stroll, for a similar consequence, finished with three positions on the next grid and two points.
The straw of the FIA that broke the camel’s back in the fans after the United States GP
As if it were a movie, Alonso flew against the protections of the Circuit of the Americas after colliding with Lance Stroll, who will be his teammate in 2023, and despite the fact that the Canadian received his deserved punishment for the race in Mexico, he did not Spanish did so well.
The FIA stewards alleged, many hours later, that the French car was not safe to compete because it had broken elements, although it was never shown a black and orange flag that would let both the team and the driver know. . Had it not been for a protest from Haas, the two-time champion would have finished seventh after being last after his strong impact, but, in addition to arriving 24 minutes after the limit to file a claim, the director in charge of saying if the cars are legal after the test, Jo Bauer , gave the A522 a thumbs up before an investigation was opened.
Thus, there was a change of heart within the FIA, contradicting what some had taken for granted, and creating a climate of anger, not only in Alpine and Fernando Alonso, but in all the fans who are increasingly asking for a separation. of the category and the international federation.
Ghosts of the past reappeared at the United States GP
In the last race held in Austin, Fernando Alonso once again revealed the FIA’s criteria, and in a clash with the two Alfa Romeos of Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi, justice was taken into his own hands. In a rather risky overtaking of the Finn in the first corner of the track, the Spaniard was left at the mercy of the rivals who came from behind, and after several complaints on the radio, when he was fighting with the Italian, he threw himself from far away on the straight from behind to pass the Swiss car off the track.
The two-time world champion claimed he hadn’t done anything wrong considering what the other riders had done, and when Giovinazzi handed it back to him, it was so obvious that the federation had been wrong that he was told he should return his place. , in what was a demonstration that, at times, the stewards’ points of view may not be the correct ones and that they could have more affection for one driver than another.
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