Fernando Alonso believes the decision to restart the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia was “100% unfair” after Lewis Hamilton was handed a reprieve.
From second on the grid, Hamilton was one of the most severely affected drivers by the software bug on the formation lap in wet conditions and ground to a halt on the back straight and fell down to 16th, just ahead of the Haas drivers, where Esteban Ocon also stopped, as did Valtteri Bottas of Cadillac.
After being given a reset, Hamilton got the Ferrari moving again, but was nearly ‘lapped’ by pole-sitter Max Verstappen, who himself had overcome a gremlin, with the FIA then quickly suspending the start sequence due to the chaos, and red-flagging the event.
Under the delay whilst the software bug was fixed, the decision was taken to have the cars put back in original grid order for the standing start, meaning Hamilton took up his second place.
After falling to the rear on his slick tyres at this start, Hamilton rallied and banked an unlikely podium in third, with Alonso also taking Aston Martin’s best result of the season in eighth place – more than doubling the team’s points haul from three to seven in one swoop.
Reflecting, the two-time champion was surprised at the decision for the race to be put back in grid order.
“I think I’ve had 50% DNF this year, and they never stopped the race for us,” Alonso told media, including RacingNews365, when asked about the lack of trouble for Aston Martin on the formation laps.
“There are eight races to go, and if we keep this percentage, in four races, we will DNF, and we will see four red flags for sure.”
When then asked for his thoughts on cars stopping behind the safety car, Alonso said: “The same thing that goes through [the FIA’s] mind when they see the Aston Martin stop and sit on one side because they have a problem and good because you have one less car in the race.”
Alonso then claimed it was “100% unfair that the grid order was reset to the original starting positions once the grand prix finally did get underway, over 90 minutes late.
“100%,” he answered directly if the decision was unfair.
“I mean, this is motor racing. If it is a safety concern, I get it. If there are five cars in the middle of the road, we have to stop the race and see what is going on.
“But I think [the cars that stopped] were out of the race. They were at the wall, and the marshals just had to push it two metres and retire the car, like we do at 50% of the races.
“It is the first time I see it, but right now, I don’t have all the information, so there is no clear explanation, and it is okay, and I’m not too concerned.
“From our side, we try to do our job, try to keep the car running, and then the rain was very much appreciated in terms of opportunities for us.”