The five-second penalty received by Carlos Sainz after the incident with Fernando Alonso at the Spanish GP on Sunday (13) was not seen by the Williams driver as a simple decision. For him, the complaint made by his compatriot on the radio may have influenced the stewards’ assessment in Madrid.
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The two were fighting for P17 on lap 12 when Alonso tried to pass Sainz on the outside approaching Turns 5-6. The Williams moved during the battle, causing contact. Alonso ended up damaging the front wing and immediately complained on the radio: “He squeezed me against the wall.”
Sainz did not consider the touch unusual for that section of the circuit. According to him, the very nature of the chicane makes it very difficult to share space between two cars: “Nothing to say, really,” said the Williams driver. “It’s the nature of that corner when you turn right, and I think he complained on the radio, so he managed to get me a penalty.”
“As always, the nature of that corner will always lead to this kind of collision because there is only room for one; there isn’t room for two. And you can’t be looking in the mirror while you’re turning and looking and doing a right-left because you need to look forward. So, at some point, you need to focus on your own trajectory, and yes, I don’t think Fernando was beside me or anything like that.”
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Alonso, on the other hand, did not share the same interpretation. The Aston Martin driver considered that the contact could have been avoided and approved the penalty applied to Sainz, even though both finished outside the points zone: “He got a penalty, so if they [the stewards] consider that enough, that’s fine by me,” he added when told that Sainz had downplayed the incident.
For Alonso, there was enough space for the battle to end differently. The Spaniard also highlighted the speed he was at during the incident, in front of his home fans. “Neither of us finished in the points, but I think that was unnecessary. There was plenty of space on the left. I was just on the wall on the right, at 340 km/h; I don’t think it was necessary.”
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