Fernando Alonso has told the FIA it must get its priorities in order to ensure Formula 1 remains popular, after the Spaniard was given a “strange” penalty for an opening lap clash.
The McLaren driver made contact with Pastor Maldonado, ending the Lotus drivers race, but Alonso believes it was the fault of Sauber’s Felipe Nasr who he made contact with prior to the Maldonado clash.
He was handed a drive-through penalty and two penalty points by the stewards.
Speaking after the race, Alonso called on the FIA to use more common sense, believing stupid penalties are hurting the sports popularity.
“It’s FIA things. We see the grandstands half empty on this circuit and half empty on most circuits, and there are championships which are overtaking us, like WEC, MotoGP…
“And then we are trying to make the cars louder. I think we need a bit of common sense.
“To have a drive-through after you’ve been hit by another car is a bit strange, and I think it’s unique. F1 needs to ask itself about the sound of the cars, or what is the problem to have less and less spectators.
“This kind of season, they need to make more sense about what they are doing, because I don’t see this in WEC, MotoGP and other categories that are much more fun than us.
“We need to look at many things. They need to get some consistency in the penalties, some common sense, and be fair.”
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