The double sanction the Asturian received in Miami left him outside the points and additionally pointed to Ocon as an unreliable ally
The general public doesn’t know it, and doesn’t need to, but the programs of the major American awards put unusual pressures on the journalists they cover. Closing hours force us to rush to the limit, often leaving fundamental details uncovered or even news whose resolution is known when the ink already soaks the pages so that the first editions of the papers continue.
This is what happened to Fernando Alonso at the Miami GP. The Asturian crossed the finish line at around 11pm in an optimal ninth position allowing him to score two points, but a long hour later it was confirmed that in one of the two subsequent examinations he was subjected to, he was penalized with a further five seconds added to those he had suffered from the accident against Pierre Gasly. He dropped from a neat ninth place to eleventh place and there are now four races in a row (five if Imola’s sprint counts) in which he has two outs. Alonso comes to the Spanish GP with no less than two units in his locker, behind drivers like Alex Albon or Sebastian Vettel who missed the first two rounds of the championship.
It is not an acceptable loot for a pilot who dreamed of podiums not so long ago. In Miami, he again suffered from the bad luck that accompanied him all year, but whatever his own mistakes may be cannot be attributed to fortune alone. And it is that the two penalties that ultimately cost him the points were caused by himself.
The analysis of the first incident leaves little room for doubt. Alonso was optimistic, believing Gasly would let him pass and when the Frenchman followed his line to take the right turn that opened up the Florida circuit, he rammed into him. The FIA is clear: on contact during overtaking, the attacker is always at fault unless it can be clearly seen that he is on the right line and already has the car in front of him. It was not the case, and five seconds fell. “It’s fair,” Alonso said, without hiding behind anything.
This failure already led to the future of the rest of the race. With 11 laps to go, the Spaniard appeared to have enough margin not to jeopardize his eighth place, but Gasly’s blow to Norris (possibly influenced by the previous contact with Alonso) that ended with the McLaren against the wall made it the security car came out, neutralizing that mattress he had. Strategy came into play and although Esteban Ocon had been pitted to fit new soft tires (which should have given him room to overtake Alonso himself), he was asked to brake.
The radio call is not entirely clear whether the Frenchman, who was already singled out for his difficulty in submitting to team discipline, obeyed or not. His lap times say he was on average three tenths faster than Alonso, but with those tires he could have done almost a second better. Meanwhile, Albon was powerless from behind to chase him, especially as Vettel and Schumacher hit each other. Anyway, Alpine’s idea worked well, Alonso only lost position with Ocon when he crossed the finish line and it looked like they were going to score points with both cars.
But what was not in the plans is that Alonso made a mistake not once but twice at a critical point, Turn 14. The chicane uphill at the entrance to the tunnel had been a serious problem for many drivers all weekend, and the race direction was crystal clear: Anyone who cut through that chicane would be notified the first time and penalized the second. It was exactly what happened to Alonso.
It’s strange that Alonso is so wrong about measuring a race and its consequences. The Asturian’s overly aggressive overtaking over his more than two decades of career, as well as his drawing failures, can be counted on the fingers of one hand. Little or very little, compared to others. And yet they cost him two points in Miami that, were it not for his dream, would have been balsamic.
The next race is the Spanish GP and here he will have a lot of eyes on him. According to the predictions, the Grandstands of the Circuit will be full as before, and many will have their eyes on Alonso. A statement to his audience would make them fear the worst: it is not normal for the two-time Spanish world champion to lose focus in this way
Source: La Verdad
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