SINGAPORE – Fernando Alonso was promoted from eighth to seventh after the Singapore Grand Prix when Lewis Hamilton was given a post-race time penalty for multiple track violations.
Hamilton finished just 0.4 seconds ahead of the Aston Martin but had gone off track on multiple occasions over the final laps while managing a brake issue.
That had included cutting a corner on at least one occasion. Alonso had been livid when he finished behind Hamilton.
“F—ing hell man, cannot believe it,” Alonso vented over the radio after taking the chequered flag. He then repeated “I cannot f—ing believe it” four more times, before adding: “Is it safe to drive with no brakes?”
Hamilton went to the stewards after the race to see for a hearing on whether he had “left the track without a justifiable reason”, multiple times. He was given a five-second penalty, dropping him behind Alonso into eighth.
The stewards did accept that the seven-time world champion was struggling with a legitimate brake issue. However, having referred to the list of exemptions which exist for time penalties in Formula 1, the stewards wrote in their verdict it was still “not a justifiable reason” to have gone off track so many times. They added that the verdict was not contested by Hamilton or Ferrari’s representative at the hearing.
The penalty elevated Alonso to cap a stellar performance. Alonso had been one of the bright sparks in an otherwise processional grand prix, delivering several other memorable radio messages during the event itself.
At one stage, while being updates from his race engineer, he snapped back: “If you speak to me after every lap, I will disconnect the radio.”
Later on, after a thrilling wheel to wheel fight with Racing Bulls rookie Isack Hadjar, Alonso gave another. “Trophy for the hero of the race,” Alonso said after getting past, although it was unclear whether he was praising his own overtaking or sarcastically commenting on Hadjar’s aggressive defensive moves.
