Fernando Alonso believes the rules are “black and white” relating to his incident with Jolyon Palmer, which saw the Briton penalised for cutting the corner and gaining an advantage during the Italian Grand Prix.
The Spaniard was very vocal about the Renault driver over the radio after they came together for the second straight weekend, following Palmer’s unhappiness of being pushed off the track by the McLaren last Sunday at Spa.
Indeed, the double world champion later called it “karma” when he asked which position Palmer was in over the radio and was informed he had retired from the race but his wrath wasn’t just limited to the 26-year-old.
“When we arrived at the chicane we were side-by-side, we braked late and I managed to take the chicane, but he didn’t and he jumped it and stayed in front,” Alonso explained.
“Usually that’s something that’s very clear in the rules: when two cars are side-by-side at the chicane and one gets to take it and one doesn’t, you give back the position, but this time the FIA must have been having a Heineken.
“It was not up to F1 standards. There is not an interpretation possible there. It is black and white.”
The former GP2 champion was given a five-second time penalty for the incident, but Alonso, who would also later retire his McLaren, believes running behind the Renault could have contributed to the problem.
“You lose 10 seconds, and the problems we had with the gearbox were because of the heat and having Jolyon in front another three or four laps,” he claimed. “If grabbing the football with your hands is a penalty, it should always be a penalty.”
As for Palmer himself, he disagreed with the Stewards decision but went on to say he’d rather not get involved in a back and forth with Fernando.
“I was ahead coming in the corner, he braked super late and forced me off the track,” he told Sky Sports. “I’m sure it will be another talking point at the next race because Fernando is not very happy about it but I don’t care.”
Though it was a race that eventually ended in yet more disappointment, Palmer believes he continued to show better form.
“We were looking pretty good in the race, then the five seconds in the stop put us quite a long way back,” he said. “The pace we had was good, quicker than all those in that group up to the edge of the points.
It’s just a shame that on the Supersoft [in the second stint] I didn’t get the chance to catch and overtake some people.”
