Alonso: Sainz penalty for restart collision ‘too harsh’

Fernando Alonso claims the penalty handed to Carlos Sainz for the incident between the pair in the closing stages of the Australian Grand Prix was “too harsh”.

Sainz was hit with a five-second time penalty after the Ferrari driver sent the Aston Martin spinning around at Turn 1 upon a red flag restart late in the race.  

With the final lap completed behind the Safety Car, Sainz’s time loss eventually demoted him out of the points, leading the livid Spaniard to label it the “most unfair penalty” he’s ever seen.

Alonso, who remained third after the initial order before the collision was reinstated, resolved that his countryman’s penalty was perhaps unnecessary given the circumstances.

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“Probably the penalty is too harsh because on Lap 1 it’s very difficult always to judge what the grip level is and I think we don’t go intentionally into another car,” Alonso said.

“We know that we also risk our car and our final position, so sometimes you end up in places that you wish you weren’t in that moment and it’s just part of racing, but I didn’t see the replay properly, but for me it feels too harsh.”

Although the stewards considered the timing of when the accident occurred, they believed that Sainz had enough margin to make the corner without tagging Alonso.

Alonso also stated that he had already felt a touch by another car on the first lap at Turn 3 when he went three-wide with team-mate Lance Stroll and Charles Leclerc.

Leclerc’s attempts to go around the outside of the two Aston Martins ended in tears for the Ferrari driver as he ended up in the gravel and out of the race.

“Obviously I didn’t know who touched me in that moment,” he began. “In Lap 1 of the first start someone touched me in Turn 3, and then in the last restart Carlos apparently touched me in Turn 1.”

Having pointed out that Saudi Arabia was the only race so far this season that he’s avoided contact at the start, the two-time champion jokingly remarked that other drivers are “attracted” to his Aston Martin.

“Probably only Jeddah I had a normal start – in Bahrain also Lance touched me into Turn 4 – so I’m very attractive out there! But our car is strong enough so it doesn’t matter if they keep touching us.”

Alonso’s third successive podium to open his debut Aston Martin campaign means the Spaniard holds onto third place in the Drivers’ Championship.

Stroll backing his partner up in fourth place has enabled the Silverstone-based outfit to reside in second position in the Constructors’ standings, nine points ahead of Mercedes.