Fernando Alonso in hot water as stewards summon Alpine star after FIA chief’s telling off

Fernando Alonso is in hot water and has been summoned by stewards at the Spanish Grand Prix after criticising F1’s race direction. The Alpine ace was upset after being penalised at the Miami Grand Prix earlier this month and has already been giving a telling off by FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem.

Alonso was handed a five-second penalty after the Miami race, which meant he missed out on securing points. The penalty was handed down after the two-time world champion had come off the track and gained an advantage.

But Alonso had recognised his error during the race and held back to relinquish his time gain and had assumed the issue had been solved there and then. And he was chagrined by the penalty as the decision to sanction him was made without giving the 40-year-old an opportunity to defend himself.

This season, Niels Wittich and Eduardo Freitas have taken over in a shared role as race directors after Michael Masi was sacked following his controversial decision-making at the 2021 season-deciding Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in December. But Alonso has not been convinced by the changes.

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And Article 12.2.1 k says rules may be contravened if there is “any misconduct towards licence-holders, officials, officers of member of the staff of the FIA, members of the staff of the organiser or promoter, members of the staff of the competitors, doping control officials or any other person involved in a doping control.”

Ben Sulayem was seen speaking to Alonso following his comments. But bizarrely that conversation took place in the paddock on the terrace of the Alpine motorhome. Meanwhile, Alonso could be summoned for a second time after getting in the way of Lewis Hamilton during the first free practice session in Barcelona on Friday. And the veteran will be hoping he isn’t in for another nightmare weekend on the track.