Alonso clears air with Ben Sulayem after criticising FIA

In Florida Alonso dropped out of the points when he received a time penalty for gaining an advantage by going off track when battling with Mick Schumacher.

Although such penalties cannot be challenged, Alonso and Alpine sporting director went to see the stewards after the race in order to state their case.

Sources have indicated to Motorsport.com that while Alonso did try to give back the time he had gained, there was a bigger picture at play. In going off track he had gained an advantage by dropping Schumacher out of DRS activation, which also put the German under threat from Esteban Ocon in the other Alpine.

In Barcelona on Friday Alonso made his frustration clear, accusing the stewards of “incompetence.” 

He subsequently had a talk about the matter with Ben Sulayem, who is keen to improve the sport’s race direction and stewarding system.

“I speak with him regularly,” Alonso said after qualifying in Barcelona. “He knew my feedback after Miami already.

“So he was aware of everything. At the end of the day we are all trying to to help each other you know, the FIA, drivers, GPDA, we are all in the same boat, and we try to make the sport more fair and better.

“So I think it was it was a nice and friendly talk, and we will move forward and hopefully get better and more consistent.”

When asked if he had apologised for his earlier comments Alonso grinned, implying that he hadn’t.

Alonso will start his home race on Sunday from the back of the grid after Alpine opted to change his Renault engine on Sunday morning.

But even before his engine change Alonso believed that only a “mega fantastic safety car” would allow him to make progress after stranding in 17th during a frustrating qualifying session.

“I think there is not much you can do,” he said. “This is Barcelona, not much overtaking, a lot of tyre degradation when…