Fernando Alonso engaged in a conversation with Mohammed Ben Sulayem.
Fernando Alonso has accused the FIA of making a “gross error” with the timing of the red flag for Yuki Tsunoda’s Turn 5 crash in qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Putting in a lap in the final few minutes of qualifying, Alonso was heading into the final corner on his hot lap when the red flags were shown.
Fernando Alonso wasn’t happy with the FIA’s actions in Hungary
Forced to abort his lap, the Spaniard qualified in seventh place as he was one of a few who didn’t take the green light when the session was restarted with two minutes 23 seconds on the clock.
Alonso thinks that the FIA made a hasty decision to halt the session.
“The FIA sometimes gets it right and sometimes makes gross errors,” he told DAZN.
“Surprisingly, today a red flag was raised when I was in the last corner. Usually, when there is an accident at Turn 8 [Turn 5], they wait for the cars to finish their laps before taking any action. This has been the unwritten rule.”
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The Aston Martin driver, along with Max Verstappen, was one of two drivers who did not join the queue for the restart. However, it turned out to be an anticlimax.
Daniel Ricciardo was the only driver in the VCARB to improve his lap time, so the McLarens, who were already 1-2 on the timesheet, didn’t bother to complete their laps.
After being initially directed to parc ferme by track officials, Alonso clarified his decision not to join the queue in the pit lane.
He said that Lance and him were taken to parc ferme as they entered the pit lane. The pit lane was subsequently closed and they were placed in parc ferme.
After stepping out of the car, we were informed that Q3 was about to be restarted. Consequently, we hopped back into the car, got ourselves buckled up, but due to my lack of tires, I decided not to venture out again.
Despite his dissatisfaction with the two incidents, he admits that he most likely wouldn’t have achieved a higher position than P7.
He said, “I was making progress by a tenth and a half, but it doesn’t really matter because the red flag came out at the last corner.”
“However, it is not usual for the parc ferme to be entered and opened again.”
Alonso was seen engaging in a conversation with Mohammed Ben Sulayem, expressing his frustrations while gesturing towards the FIA president, following his qualification.
The Spaniard has once again presented his argument to the FIA president, as he did earlier this year during the Miami Grand Prix, expressing concerns about the potential influence of driver nationality on penalties.
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