Alonso agrees with Verstappen on 'illogical' Hamilton penalty
F1 News
- GPblog.com
In Brazil, Lewis Hamilton took his fifth internal combustion engine of the season, which 'only' earned him a grid penalty of five places. It could not stop the seven times world champion from winning the Grand Prix. Fernando Alonso, like Max Verstappen, thinks it is an illogical penalty.
Fifth combustion engine Hamilton
After Hamilton took his new combustion engine to the Interlagos circuit, it proved to have a much higher top speed. The Mercedes driver's five-place grid penalty was therefore easily cancelled out by the Briton's extra power. During the sprint race on Saturday, where he had to start from the back due to a disqualification, and the race on Sunday, he could easily make up those places.
Verstappen said he found this method of punishment illogical. The first engine failure costs a driver ten places on the grid, the second only five places. "In theory, Mercedes can put in a new combustion engine every Grand Prix, take five places penalty and benefit from the power boost", the Dutchman said.
Alonso agrees with Verstappen
In the Spanish newspaper AS Fernando Alonso agrees with Verstappen. According to the Alpine driver, it is not good that the regulations work in Mercedes' favour in this way. According to the Spanish driver, Mercedes has almost free engine changes this way. He would therefore like to see it differently. "Those who have exceeded a certain number of engines per year should be sent to the back of the grid."