Italian Grand Prix – penalty

September 9, 2006 by paul
Filed under: Uncategorized

News of post-qualifying penalty below – I’ve put it the main page rather than on the summary in case anyone hasn’t seen qualifying yet.

The Official Formula 1 Website reports that Alonso has been punished for ~~not driving a Ferrari~~ “blocking Massa”!

World champion Fernando Alonso has dropped from fifth to tenth on the provisional grid for Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix after Monza stewards penalized him for impeding Ferrari’s Felipe Massa during qualifying.

Massa complained to officials that Alonso had blocked him whilst on his final run at the end of session. The stewards agreed and deleted the Renault star’s three fastest times from Q3, though they did concede that Alonso’s actions may not have been deliberate.

The penalty has no effect on Massa’s grid position as he had qualified fourth, immediately ahead of Alonso. However, it is good news for Ferrari team mate Michael Schumacher, who qualified second. Schumacher, who trails Alonso by 12 points in the drivers’ championship, now has seven cars between himself and his title rival for the start of Ferrari’s home race.

The final grid positions will be published by the FIA on Sunday morning.

So there’s no mention of Michael’s “brake test” of Alonso, which both TSN and Speed commentators spotted and which led to the puncture that caused Alonso’s (relatively) poor qualifying performance?

The FIA’s actions are yet again suspiciously pro-Ferrari, but Formula One fans know Bernie has made no secret of his wish to see Ferrari win.

I just don’t understand how Alonso was pushing really hard to complete the lap before the chequered flag fell can possibly have been slow enough to hold up Massa.

Update: On-board footage of Massa’s lap (the lap in question) and it’s hard to see the rear of Alonso’s Renault, let alone see any blocking.