Fernando Alonso has accused the FIA of making a “gross error” during qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix. The incident that sparked his frustration occurred when Yuki Tsunoda crashed at Turn 5.
During the final minutes of qualifying, Alonso was on a hot lap, heading into the last corner, when the red flags were shown. This forced him to abort his lap, leaving him in seventh place. Alonso was among the few drivers who didn’t return to the track when the session restarted with just over two minutes remaining.
Alonso believes the FIA was too quick to stop the session. “The FIA sometimes gets it right and sometimes makes gross errors,” he told DAZN. “Today they made one, because they red-flagged when I was in the last corner, which is surprising. When there is an accident at Turn 8 [Turn 5] they normally wait for the cars to complete their laps, or that’s the spoken rule.”
Alonso explained that he and his teammate, Lance Stroll, were directed into parc ferme by track officials when they initially entered the pit lane. “Going into the pit lane, Lance and I were put into parc ferme, they closed the pit lane and put us into parc ferme,” he said. “We got out of the car, then they told us that Q3 was going to restart. We got back in the car, they buckled us in, and because I had no more tires, I didn’t go out again.”
While frustrated, Alonso admitted he probably wouldn’t have qualified higher than seventh place. “I had been improving by a tenth and a half until that last corner when the red flag came out and it probably doesn’t change anything,” he said. “But this going into the parc ferme, then opening it again, that doesn’t normally happen.”
After the qualifying session, Alonso was seen talking to FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem, seemingly expressing his frustrations. This isn’t the first time Alonso has voiced his concerns to the FIA president; he did so earlier this year at the Miami Grand Prix, alleging that driver nationality might be influencing penalties.
Alonso’s encounter with the FIA in Hungary adds to a season filled with contentious moments and highlights the ongoing dialogue between drivers and race officials about the consistency of decisions. The controversy at the Hungarian Grand Prix serves as another chapter in the ever-evolving dynamics of Formula 1.
Source: Planetf1
