Two-time world champion, Fernando Alonso has fiercely criticised stewarding standards following the penalty meted out to him in Miami.

The Spaniard was handed a post-race time penalty, which dropped him out of the points, after he was deemed to have gained an advantage by cutting the chicane as he battled with Mick Schumacher.

"On Lap 53, the Alpine driver had cut the Turn 14 chicane which in the process increased the gap to the pursuing Haas of Mick Schumacher, thereby putting the Spaniard out of DRS range," said the stewards.

Having reviewed the video and GPS data evidence they deemed that Alonso had gained a lasting advantage by leaving the track and thereby handed him a second 5s penalty which dropped him from 9th to 11th.

The decision didn't go down well with team boss, Laurent Rossi, who took to social media to vent is frustration.

"A disappointing post-race penalty for Fernando for leaving the track and gaining an advantage means our six points at the chequered flag turned into four points and it has cost us a deserved double points finish.

"This one is certainly difficult to accept," he added, "since Fernando handed back the time during the lap and we were not able to present the evidence to clarify the particular situation before the penalty was issued.

"With the opportunity to explain, we're very confident Fernando would have kept his ninth place," he insisted.

Ahead of today's opening practice session, Alonso was only too happy to share his thoughts on the matter also.

"They were not very professional, I think, in Miami," he said of the stewards. "I missed one corner and then I gave back the time on the lap, but obviously you miss one corner, then there is the sector time just after that corner...

"So they saw the pink colour," he continued, referring to the timing screens, "and they took the decision without asking for any proof.

"We arrived after the race with all the proof and the time back that we gave, and they were just packing up," he added. "They were not even in the room. We came there, we showed them all the data, they said give us five minutes and then they found themselves with their hands tied probably because they issued already the penalty and they didn't know how to get back from that document.

"It was very bad, and honestly, I mean, yeh... it's already the past but it is something that should not happen in Formula 1, with professionalism and standards Formula 1 has right now.

"We saw a couple of things already that proves we still need to improve a lot," he said, referring to stewarding standards, "you need to have some knowledge about racing before being a race director or trying to monitor a race, and I don't think that knowledge is in place at the moment.

"I know there is a new race director here. I think Freitas has a lot more experience with WEC and other categories at the top level, and I think that will already improve things.

"The accidents we had in Miami, Carlos and Esteban, I think we pushed to have some barriers there and tyres or Tecpro and, you know, no one did anything. When you don't have that knowledge of racing it's difficult to talk."

Unsurprisingly, it is understood the Spaniard is to be invited to share his thoughts directly with the Barcelona stewards... or Bar-stewards as he will no doubt come to refer to them.

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by Pavlo, 21/05/2022 4:49

"Fernando never changes :)
It’s “unprofessional” to cut the chicane. Next time stay on track and there will be no penalty, I promise.
He in fact broke the rules so it’s purely up to the stewards to decide, whether he gained an advantage or not and whether this needs to be penalised. And it has nothing to do with Tecpro barriers.
I am actually happy that stewards make decisions without listening to the teams, and that penalties are finally stricter."

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2. Posted by Mad Matt, 20/05/2022 17:13

"Sorry if I already said this but: The analysis on F1TV, which had access to the data traces, showed that he didn't give back the time but only waved his hand and made a token lift. Obviously the team would have had that data so they must know very well that he got an advantage, both times he cut the chicane."

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Alonso hits out at "incompetent stewards"

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