A Japanese proverb says: the samurai must always seem very satisfied even if he is very hungry. A motto that speaks volumes about the attitude demonstrated by Fernando Alonso who last Sunday, with imperturbable calm after a flight and a terrifying contact with the barriers, continued the race climbing up to P7. Position and points that have been to him subtracted in the post-race following a protest from Haas who reported to the FIA the irregularity of Alonso's car, due to a mirror that came off after a few laps. The Alpine has brought forward an appeal and in these hours the results of an initial consultation with Haas and the FIA are awaited. During the pre press conference Mexico, Alonso wasted no time, relaunching the issue and once again pointing the finger at the FIA.
Peace made with Stroll
The incident with Stroll ad Austin it had terrible dynamics but fortunately few consequences. Unlike Stroll's car, the relationship between the two future team mates doesn't seem to have cracked, this is because both have acknowledged that they have shared guilt. Fernando Alonso will be part of the team from 2023 Aston Martin and starting with a disagreement with the boss's son wouldn't be ideal for his presentation. The Spanish rider expressed total solidarity with the Canadian rider who will have to serve a 3-place penalty on the starting grid in Mexico.
“I spoke to Lance after the race, even in the stewards room.” Alonso said in the press conference. "We had the same vision, it was an unfortunate moment; we moved at the same time, I took the lead until the end, he defended himself and in the end we touched. I think his penalty is very severe. “
Fernando is optimistic
He doesn't talk so much about the weekend he has to face as about the last one on which those points subtracted weigh – especially from a championship point of view. Fernando believes that the appeal will have a positive outcome, but the FIA will have to accept it before even evaluating a rollback on the penalty.
“We are waiting for the Haas protest. I was disappointed of course; Sunday was a swing of emotions. We finished in seventh place and then I finished out of the points. We'll see, I'm very optimistic that we will keep seventh place. I think the new leadership is doing different things than in the past, I have full confidence in their decision. A couple of things are very clear and they did it wrong. If I'm not seventh, they'll explain why and it will be clear for everyone."
“You can't appeal to the time on penalties, it must be done immediately. We protested because there were some things that weren't shown, like the orange and black flag; at parc fermé we passed the controls and got the green light, then the complaint arrived. If the decision is correct it will become a big problem for F1. In this way the machines will have to withdraw as soon as a piece is not well fixed. It's an important day for sport. I'm not fighting for the championship so I don't care about seventh place, but there's a Pandora's box that I don't want to open" concluded the Spaniard.
Source statements: Red Motors
