Aston Martin and Alpine hit with fines after pit lane chaos

Aston Martin and Alpine have both been hit with fines of €5,000 as a result of the chaos that ensued during qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix.

Towards the end of Q2, a stream of cars filed out of their garages in the hope of gaining the all-important tow required at Monza to secure a fast time.

But mayhem unfolded as first Aston Martin's Sebastian Vettel was released into the path of Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton, who was forced to take avoiding action.

In handing Aston Martin the financial penalty, a stewards' report read: "Several cars were released into the pit lane at the same time.

"The driver of car 5 [Vettel] was released by his team, but at the same time the team’s other car was also being released.

"This caused car 5 to move towards the fast lane when car 44 [Hamilton] was passing and car 44 had to take avoiding action to avoid an incident."

Moments later, a member of the Alpine team effectively stopped Vettel and Hamilton from progressing as he ushered Esteban Ocon into the pit lane.

After fining Alpine for the 'team member in the pit lane operating in an unsafe manner', a further stewards' report read: "The team member of car 31 [Ocon], who was responsible for releasing car 31, stepped back into the pit lane, close to the fast lane into the path of car 5.

"While the stewards accept that members of other teams also stepped this far into the pit lane, they did not obstruct another car and were not in a particularly dangerous situation.

"In the case of car 31, the stewards determined that this was an 'unsafe act'."

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