Fernando Alonso has been punished for dangerous driving following an altercation with Robert Doornbos in Friday practice for the Hungarian Grand Prix.
The world champion will have two seconds added to his fastest lap time in each segment of Saturday’s qualifying.
Alonso gesticulated angrily at Doornbos after the Red Bull third driver held him up on a new-tyre run on Friday afternoon and then appeared to brake-test the Dutchman going into the first corner.
The two drivers were summoned to the stewards’ office to give their versions of the incident, and Alonso was later called back a second time.
After lengthy deliberations the stewards handed the Spaniard two time penalties of one second each for separate offences.
The first was for “unnecessary, unacceptable and dangerous” driving in the incident with Doornbos, the other for overtaking under a yellow flag.
The penalties mean that Alonso will be hard pressed to make it past the knockout qualifying stages on Saturday, and is likely to start from the middle of the grid or below.
That will seriously dent his chances of a good result given that overtaking is notoriously difficult at the Hungaroring (though it is marginally easier than it used to be after changes to the circuit layout in 2003).
Welcome
Guests: 606
Hidden: 0
Users: 0
