Sunday, June 27, 2010

Alonso angry at 'unfair' result

Fernando Alonso

Alonso frustrated after respecting rules

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso blamed a controversial incident involving Lewis Hamilton for ruining his hopes of success at the European Grand Prix.

Hamilton was penalised for overtaking the safety car, but still managed to salvage second place despite having to serve a drive-through penalty.

"It was unfair - we respected the rules and didn't overtake under the yellow flag," said Alonso, who came eighth.

But Hamilton insisted he had not sought to gain any advantage from the move.

"I don't really remember too much about it, to be honest," said Hamilton in his post-race interview.

ANDREW BENSON BLOG

"As I was coming around Turn One, literally as I got to the safety car line I saw the safety car was pretty much alongside me. I thought that I'd passed it so I continued and that was it."

And when news of Alonso's anger was relayed to him, Hamilton said the Spaniard should stick to analysing his own performance.

"It's good to know his weak point, I guess," Hamilton, who spent a tumultuous season alongside Alonso as team-mates at McLaren, told BBC Sport.

"I just focus on my job, so maybe he should have done that."

Hamilton said he had acted instinctively when the safety car came out in the wake of Mark Webber's horrific crash.

"I thought I'd passed him as we went over the line so I didn't think anything was wrong," he said. "That's why I continued.

"It was much, much later in the race that I found out I had a penalty - I didn't even know what it was for. I haven't seen the data so I don't even know that I did [overtake the safety car]."

Lewis Hamilton

Hamilton unconcerned with Alonso claims

When Hamilton did take the drive-through penalty, he was able to emerge still in second place - a position he maintained until the finishing line as he took 18 valuable points to extend his lead at the top of the championship standings.

"I think my general pace was quite a bit better than a lot of the people behind me," added Hamilton.

"We were competitive from the beginning. I think that's the reason why we ended up second."

But Alonso was adamant that the incident had been pivotal to his chances of success in front of his fellow Spaniards in Valencia.

"It completely destroyed the race," said Alonso, who was subsequently promoted one place to eighth after an investigation into several drivers for driving too fast when the safety car was out.

"We finished ninth, he finished second so there is something to think about.

Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali

Domenicali angered by McLaren punishment

"It's a shame, not for us because this is racing, but for all the fans who came here to watch a manipulated race. It is the first time I have seen someone overtake the safety car. All the kids that were in the stands know that you cannot pass [the safety car].

"I do not know what the penalty should be. I only know that when the safety car came out I was one metre behind Hamilton. I finished ninth, he finished second. I respected the rule, he didn't."

Alonso also said that stewards should have dealt with the incident more quickly, with Hamilton driving on for several more laps before the penalty was applied.

"They gave the penalty but a bit too late - 20 laps to investigate one piece of overtaking," he said.

Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali was clearly unhappy with the incident, initially saying it was "better not to say anything - everyone has seen what happened" in a brief BBC Sport interview.

Having taken time to reflect, he made the Italian team's prevailing emotion clear. "We are very angry because we didn't get the points that we should have got from this race. Hamilton was not respecting the line for the safety car. And then we had a delay from the decision which affected Ferrari very heavily."

buy tadalafil | online pharmacy without prescription

No comments: