Alonso rants 'no rules' F1 needs "a referee to protect us"

Alonso’s rant came after he was eliminated in Q2 with the 11th-fastest time. The Alpine driver missed out on a place in Q3 by just 0.012s and blamed McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo for compromising him in the final corner of his lap. 

Ricciardo, Esteban Ocon and Sebastian Vettel all escaped grid penalties following three separate investigations into alleged impeding offences in a messy end to Q2. 

“Unfortunately, we don’t have anybody policing this,” a frustrated Alonso bemoaned after qualifying. 

“[The] race director is too soft. If you let us play with the outlaps, it’s always going to be a mess. We need a referee to protect us and at the moment, we don’t have it. 

“Then on the traffic itself, McLaren’s fault, the team or driver whatever. Even if there’s a lot of traffic on the outlap, you need to move when a fast car is coming. He didn’t move. 

“In Austria, Vettel got three places so I expect three places minimum or more. We’ll see where I start. I think I’ll start ninth in my opinion.

“Our team is very sharp on telling us when a faster car is coming, so I had zero investigations for impeding in the whole year, so you also have to be sharp. 

“The people that are not sharp are investigated. Normally they get the penalty, but this is another thing, it’s very random.” 

Alonso believes F1’s rules are not being enforced as strictly as when he last raced in the championship in 2018. 

“Definitely much worse than 2018,” Alonso explained. “There are no rules. Not for the outlap, there are no minimum times to respect, there are on the first lap, a lot of strange movements off track. 

“I complain the first third of the championship, then I changed attitude then I was doing the same, and now I don’t have anymore races to impede anyone, it’s not in my heart to impede. 

“Nobody wants to be in the middle of anyone’s fast lap, because then you go to the stewards and get a three-place penalty. I hope it’s what happens today.” 

And the two-time world champion says F1 needs a more black-and-white ruling over such offences, using a football analogy as an example.

“The issue is that we should be more aligned with the things that are right and the things that are wrong,” he added. 

“It should be more black and white, what is a penalty, and what is not a penalty. They have to be harsh in some of the decisions. 

“In football, when somebody makes a tackle, and there is a big penalty or whatever, there is a red card. 

“Here they’re struggling to show a yellow or red card. That’s why we keep repeating the same bad things.”