Alonso handed five-second penalty for weaving, drops to ninth
Alonso was suffering from an engine clipping issue in the second half of the race at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve which impacted his speed on the straights.
The problem worsened in the closing laps, allowing Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas to close up following the Safety Car period caused by Yuki Tsunoda.
- Verstappen beats Sainz to Canadian GP victory, Hamilton returns to the podium
- Red Bull ‘lost communication’ with Verstappen’s F1 car in Canadian GP
- What did Hamilton, Verstappen, Sainz say in the cooling room?
- DRIVER RATINGS: 10/10 for Verstappen and one other driver… but for who?
Alonso managed to fend off the Finn, mainly thanks to Alpine teammate Esteban Ocon giving him DRS to defend his position.
On the final lap, Alonso moved several times on the straight which forced Bottas to lift off to avoid being pushed into the barrier on the left-hand side of the circuit.
As a result, the two-time F1 champion has been handed a five-second penalty, dropping him to ninth behind Bottas and Guanyu Zhou.
The FIA stewards’ statement read: “Between turns 10 and 12, on the penultimate lap of the race, car 14 made repeated changes of direction to defend against car 77 who had to lift at one point and briefly lost momentum.
“Whilst noting the driver’s point that at no stage was any point of car 77 alongside car 14, the Stewards consider this to be a clear breach of the above regulation.
“The Stewards therefore impose a 5 seconds time penalty in line with that imposed for a similar incident in Australia 2022.”
Sebastian Vettel has been cleared by the stewards after being investigated for a Safety Car infringement.
With a sharp eye for F1’s controversies and storylines, Connor is the heartbeat of our unbiased reporting.
