F1 News: Fernando Alonso Slapped With Fine After Chinese Sprint Race

Fernando Alonso was penalized for causing a collision during the Chinese GP sprint race.

Nov 15, 2023; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso of Spain speaks during / Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Fernando Alonso received a 10-second time penalty and added penalty points to his license following a collision in the Chinese sprint race. The incident with Carlos Sainz led to the two-time champion's retirement from the race.

The recent Chinese Grand Prix Sprint witnessed yet another dramatic moment involving Alonso. In the battle for third position, the tension heightened on Lap 17 when Alonso’s attempt to reclaim the position from Sainz led to a collision. The incident forced Alonso to retire and left the Ferrari driver with significant damage to his vehicle. The FIA stewards decided to penalize Alonso for his role in the collision.

Following the race, the stewards reviewed the incident thoroughly. Alonso, accused of causing the collision at Turn 9, was handed a 10-second time penalty, which was added to his race time despite not finishing. Moreover, this altercation contributed to Alonso's accumulating penalty points. Adding three more to his license, this incident brings his total to six points over the past 12 months.

The FIA Stewards noted in the official statement:

"The Stewards heard from the driver of Car 14 (Fernando Alonso), the driver of Car 55 (Carlos Sainz), team representatives and reviewed positioning/marshalling system data, video and in-car video evidence and determined that Car 14 caused a collision with Car 55 at Turn 9. The result of the collision was that Car 55 was damaged and that Car 14 had a puncture and retired before the end of the sprint session.

"As per the guidelines on driving standards, which was agreed with the teams, an infringement of this nature required that a baseline penalty of 10 seconds was to be added to the time of a car that caused a collision.

"Article 54.3 of the Sporting Regulations states if the 10 second penalty is imposed after the end of a sprint session, then 10 seconds will be added to the elapsed time of the driver concerned. We accordingly added 10 seconds to the elapsed time of Car 14."