Fernando Alonso: 'DISQUALIFIED from F1 championship'? Former champion mocks FIA following Japanese Grand Prix

F1 Legends

'DISQUALIFIED from F1 championship'? Alonso mocks FIA following Japanese Grand Prix

The Spaniard was not impressed in Japan

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Wednesday 10 April 2024 18:57

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Fernando Alonso has suggested that he doesn't know anymore what his punishment may be following incidents during Formula 1 race weekends.

The 42-year-old Spaniard has started the season in fine form with Aston Martin, achieving four points finishes from the opening four races of 2024.

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Alonso has been rather coy about his future in the sport beyond the end of this season, and hinted recently that a move to Mercedes to replace Lewis Hamilton 'doesn't feel that attractive'.

The two-time world champion was punished during the Australian Grand Prix for an incident with Mercedes' George Russell, despite not making any contact with the Brit.

Alonso's defensive tactics were ruled to have been dangerous, and he was clobbered with a 20-second time penalty, but it didn't stop his efforts during the Japanese GP.

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Trying to defend his sixth-place position from McLaren's Oscar Piastri and Russell behind, Alonso dropped back in order to give Piastri DRS to help him defend from the faster Russell.

Ultimately, the move worked, and Alonso managed to hold on to his sixth position in another fantastic result for the Silverstone-based outfit.

However, Alonso joked after the race that he might get punished for the tactics, citing his penalty at the Australian GP as reason not to be sure of anything in F1.

"I don't know what to say anymore after Australia, let's see if I get disqualified for the rest of the championship,” he told Spanish TV channel DAZN.

“It's clear that having Piastri behind, it was a way to defend myself from Russell, so I was probably taking a bit of battery off on the last straight to get Piastri within a second.

“Carlos did it like that in Singapore last year too, and it's a normal racing thing,” he concluded, citing Carlos Sainz's brilliant victory at the 2023 Singapore GP where he used similar tactics to defend from Russell and Lewis Hamilton.