Former F1 driver and BBC Radio 5 Live analyst Jaime Alguersuari believes Sebastian Vettel fully deserved his drive-thru penalty at last weekend’s Italian Grand Prix, after forcing World Championship leader Fernando Alonso off the circuit at turn 4. The German went on to retire shortly after his penalty, due to another alternator issue.
As the duo battled for position on lap 25 of the Italian Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso tried to overtake the Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel around the outside of turn 3, reminiscent of a similar maneuver carried out by Vettel on Alonso the previous year. However, unlike last year’s maneuver, Alonso was unable to make the move stick after being forced wide by Sebastian Vettel. The stewards then decided to impose a drive-thru penalty upon Vettel for forcing the Spaniard off the track, after Alonso was heard complaining on the team radio about the German’s driving.
Jaime Alguersuari believes the race stewards were correct in imposing the drive-thru penalty, for what he thinks was aggressive driving from the reigning World Champion. The 22-year-old Spaniard raced for Toro Rosso for three seasons in Formula 1, before being replaced along with team-mate Sebastien Buemi prior to the 2012 season. Alguersuari has since joined Pirelli as their test driver, as well as becoming BBC Radio 5 Live’s analyst alongside lead commentator James Allen.
“The stewards at the Italian Grand Prix were absolutely right to give Sebastian Vettel a penalty for his maneuver on Fernando Alonso.” Explained Jaime Alguersuari in his blog on the BBC website, “It is very dangerous when you push someone off the track as they are trying to overtake you at that speed - especially at Monza. You are doing more than 180mph through the Curva Grande [turn 3] in a Formula 1 car. The problem was that Vettel moved towards the other driver in a very aggressive way - and at a very high speed - and he did not leave Alonso enough room to stay on the track. Alonso was not behind; he was already past half of Vettel’s car. If you do that, you have to be penalized.
“Once you are on the grass you lose a lot of grip and it’s very bumpy. You need to back off to get your speed down and fight the car. It was not at all the same situation as last year, when Vettel passed Alonso in the same place with two wheels on the grass. Then, Alonso left room for one car. On Sunday, Vettel did not.”
There was understandably mixed opinions on the stewards decision after the race, with Fernando Alonso naturally in favor of the penalty, whereas Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull thought the penalty was harsh. With Paul di Resta committing a similar offense against the Williams of Bruno Senna earlier in the race as the pair negotiated turns 4 and 5, it’s understandable that the consistency of the stewards may be questioned. Either way, it’s clear that the stewards are continuing to stamp out dangerous driving in F1, especially after the Romain Grosjean incident at the Belgian Grand Prix.
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