Alonso hits out at incompetence of ‘not very professional’ Miami F1 stewards

The two-time world champion finished ninth in Miami but lost his points finish after being handed a five-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, a punishment that was criticised by Alpine. 

Speaking ahead of this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix, Alonso made his frustrations clear as he claimed the situation was poorly handled by the Miami stewards. 

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“Well it was unfair, we believe that it was very unfair and it was just incompetence from the stewards,” Alonso said. 

“So, yeah, they were not very professional I think in Miami. I missed one corner and then I gave back the time on the lap but obviously you miss one corner there is the sector time just after that corner, so they saw the pink colour, and yeah, they took the decision without asking for any proof. 

“We arrived after the race with all the proof and the time back that we gave and they were just packing up. They were not even in the room. We came there, we showed them all the data, they said give us five minutes and then they found themselves with the hands tied probably because they issued already the penalty and they didn’t know how to get back from that document. 

“So it was very bad, and honestly, I mean… yeah, it’s already the past but it is something that should not happen in Formula 1, with professionalism and standards Formula 1 has right now.” 

The FIA has restructured its stewarding process in the wake of the controversial ending to the 2021 world championship, including the introduction of a new VAR-style Virtual Control Room to assist with decision-making. 

Asked if he has seen any improvements compared to last year, Alonso replied: “No. No.” 

Freitas more experienced at top-level officiating 

Alonso also had a dig at former DTM race director Neils Wittich, who has overseen the opening five races of the season so far. He is sharing the role of F1 race director this season with Eduardo Freitas, who will officiate for the first time this season at Barcelona. 

“I mean we saw a couple of things already that proves that we still need to improve a lot,” he said. 

“Racing, you need to have some knowledge about racing before being a race director or trying to monitor a race. And I don’t think that knowledge is in place at the moment. 

“I know there is a new Race Director here. I think Freitas has a lot more experience with WEC and other categories at the top level, and I think that will already improve things but, yeah. 

“I mean even the accident we had in Miami, with Carlos and Esteban, I think we pushed to have some barriers there and some tyres or Tecpro and, you know… no one did anything. 

“When you don’t have that knowledge of racing it’s difficult to talk.”