Fernando Alonso and the debuting Juri Vips both were handed reprimands for impeding during practice at the Spanish Grand Prix.
Both of these incidents involved a Mercedes, Alonso judged to have impeded Lewis Hamilton by “driving slowly on the racing line between Turn 12 and Turn 13”.
Alonso therefore was handed his first reprimand of the season.
Vips meanwhile was making his race weekend debut in FP1 behind the wheel of the Red Bull when he got in the way of George Russell, Hamilton’s Mercedes team-mate.
For Vips it was the same punishment.
🏁 #FP2 🏁 A wrap on Friday practice in sunny Spain.
P6 Fernando: 1:20.203
P9 Esteban: 1:20.745#SpanishGP pic.twitter.com/4tV8W5Ggmd— BWT Alpine F1 Team (@AlpineF1Team) May 20, 2022
Alonso was on form in his Alpine on Friday, the Spaniard finishing P6 in FP2, only half a second down on pacesetter Charles Leclerc.
“It was a good day,” he told reporters.
“We did obviously not many laps in winter testing here, we had a couple of things to test still, and yeah concentrating on the tyres, temperature is very different to February.
“So I feel we gathered a lot of data, but not totally happy with the balance, even with the competitiveness [that] felt good, and I think there is more to come for everybody tomorrow.”
While Alonso’s one-lap pace was impressive, he also delivering a solid race simulation during FP2.
He said that he had not yet seen the times, though expects the tyres to become an issue for all drivers.
“I didn’t look at the pace, but inside the car it felt difficult,” he responded when told of his performance on the long run.
“I think with the heat and everything, the tyres they are struggling I think for everybody, so we need to fine-tune a few things on the set-up for tomorrow.
“There are a couple of improvements from our main rivals, but our car seems to perform okay.
“And here qualifying is always going to be important, in this track it is difficult to pass, Saturdays have been…
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