Formula One news

Stewards reject Alonso's excuse

The FIA stewards found Fernando Alonso's excuse for holding up Lewis Hamilton during qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix as unacceptable. The double-world champion purported that he remained in the pits for ten seconds more than he was told because he was questioning whether the right tyres had been fitted to his car. However the sport's governing body says that no such conversation could be heard on the McLaren radio transmission during that period.

A statement from the FIA read: "Alonso was asked why he waited for some 10 seconds before leaving the pits after being given the signal to leave. His response was that he was enquiring as to whether the correct set of tyres had been fitted to his car. When asked why this conversation did not take place during the 20 second period when his car sat stationary all work on it having been completed, it was stated that it was not possible to communicate by radio because of the countdown being given to him.

"The explanation given by Alonso as to why at the expiration of the 20 second period he remained in his pit stop position for a further 10 seconds is not accepted. The Stewards find that he unnecessarily impeded another driver, Hamilton, and as a result he will be penalised by a loss of 5 grid positions."

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