The FIA has handed a 10-second time penalty and two penalty points to Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg for an incident with Fernando Alonso during the Formula 1 Sprint in Austria.
The incident took place during Lap 19 of the Sprint race around the Red Bull Ring, while the German driver was fighting with Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso for the P14.
Hulkenberg tried to move past the Spaniard into the breaking of Turn 3, but he went too late on the breaks locking up in the process.
Because of the lock-up he completely missed the apex and went wide, blocking Alonso’s line and forcing the Aston Martin driver to go off-track to avoid a collision.
Ultimately, this led to Alonso not only losing the position to Hulkenberg but also to Sargeant, who was immediately behind.
After reviewing the video and in-car evidence, the Stewards handed him a penalty briefly after the end of the Sprint.
“The driver of Car 27 [Hulkenberg] attempted an overtake on Car 14 [Alonso] into Turn 3 but locked up and missed the apex. The Car understeered to the very edge of the track, thereby
preventing Car 14 from turning in and forcing the other driver off track,” explains the Stewards document.
This translates into a 10-second time penalty which drops Hulkenberg from 14th to 19th on the Sprint’s finishing order. Additionally, he also picks up two penalty points for the incident.
Asked about the incident post-race, before the penalty became public, Alonso mentioned he “could try to defend and force him to get a penalty, as he took me off-track.” but since he “is Spanish it’s better to not get in trouble.”
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