Alonso Given Time Penalty And Additional Penalty Points For Collision With Sainz In China

Fernando Alonso won't be too happy after the 2024 Chinese Grand Prix Sprint race, as he was given an additional time penalty and penalty points.

The Spanish driver had high hopes ahead of the Sprint, as he qualified third in the Sprint Shootout, giving him a decent chance at challenging for the podium in the Sprint race at the Shanghai International Circuit.

Things were going well for the first 15 of 19 laps of the Sprint race. However, with Carlos Sainz in Ferrari pressuring the fellow Spaniard from the back, Lap 16 proved to be decisive when it came to the last podium position in the Sprint race.

With Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton too far ahead, the two Spaniards were fighting with Sainz's teammate Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez for the third spot in a battle that started thanks to a close fight between the two Spanish drivers.

At Turn 9, the two drivers collided, but Alonso was penalized already during the race, but not by the FIA Stewards, but by his own car, as one of the contacts caused him a puncture, which made him unable to finish the Sprint race.

Still, Stewards had a look at the collision after the race, and they determined that "Car 14 caused a collision with Car 55 at Turn 9. The result of the collision was that Car 55 was damaged and that Car 14 had a puncture and retired before the end of the sprint session."

As a result, Alonso was given a 10-second time penalty, which was added to his total time, even though he didn't finish the race, so it had no impact on his finishing position.

On top of that, he also received three penalty points, and he has now accumulated a total of 6 penalty points in the period of the last 12 months. If the 42-year-old reaches 12 penalty points, he will be forced to miss one race.