Alonso apologises to FIA after ‘incompetent’ F1 stewards remark

Alonso hit out at the FIA for their decision to give him a five-second time penalty at the Miami Grand Prix.

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

The two-time world champion also questioned the “professionalism” of the stewards in Miami.

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“So it was very bad, and honestly, I mean… yeah, it’s already the past but it is something that should not happen in F1, with professionalism and standards Formula 1 has right now,” Alonso added. 

Later in the weekend, Alonso was pictured speaking to FIA president Mohammed bin Sulayem. 

Speaking on Sunday after the Spanish Grand Prix, Alonso revealed that he had apologised to bin Sulayem and his stance on what happened in Miami had changed.

“Even reflecting from Miami, and from Thursday here… maybe I see it in a different way now,” Alonso explained. “They did their job in Miami and we see differently from the car and from the heat of the moment. I think we all work together to improve the show. 

“Today, for example, the fans saw a super race and we all here to help that, to help the show. We talked during the week as well. Very good friend with Mohammed. I have a lot of trust, personally, in Mohammed, at how he’s handled FIA and other changes that he’s making and the things he wants to improve. 

“I’m fully supportive of what he’s doing and his ideas and we were talking about Miami and generally the year, how it has been. Hearing from them as well I can hear the point I can see the point and I can do things differently and better.”

Last to the points for Alonso

Alonso made amends for a disappointing qualifying on home soil to finish in the points from the back of the grid.

The Spaniard was knocked out in Q1 for the first time in front of his home fans after encountering traffic on his final run in qualifying.

With Alonso set to start the race from 17th, Alpine decided to give him an entirely new power unit, dropping him to the back of the field.

In typical Alonso fashion, he cut his way through the field on the opening lap before settling into the top 10.

Amazingly, it was only his second points finish of the season with poor reliability plaguing his campaign. 

“I am very happy,” he said. “Obviously, finishing in the points is always the target every weekend. For us, after the bad qualifying yesterday and the decision to change the engine overnight, in a way, was sacrificing this weekend knowing it was very difficult to get points. 

“So now that we got this P9, it feels like a victory nearly and it feels good. Hopefully, we can start from here, maybe five, eight, 10 consecutive races in the points. That’s what we need.”

“It was good but I think we still need to improve on Sundays. I think we are still faster on Saturday than Sunday. From that perspective, we need to keep improving.”