Alonso believes “nationality” explains Verstappen’s Qatar GP penalty · RaceFans

Fernando Alonso doubts Max Verstappen would have lost his pole position at the Qatar Grand Prix had he held up another driver in qualifying, such as himself.

Verstappen was given a one-place grid penalty after the stewards ruled he obstructed George Russell as they prepared to begin their final laps. Alonso, who has previously claimed F1’s stewards are more likely to take a British driver’s side, believes Russell’s nationality influenced the decision to penalise Verstappen.

“Sometimes when they apply a rule or penalty to someone, then why we don’t follow that path?” asked Alonso. “In the next race it is not applicable anymore, depending sometimes which nationality you are.”

He suggested Russell would not have received the same penalty Alonso incurred in Australia, whether the stewards penalised him 20 seconds for a “potentially dangerous” move while being pursued by the Mercedes driver.

“If I do [the same as Russell] I will not receive the same benefit as George did probably there. Or maybe my incident in Australia – contactless 30 metres away from me, someone goes off track and I get a penalty. Sometimes you wonder if you switch the positions and you are the other guy, if you will have the same treatment. That’s what I say sometimes.”

Alonso was one of three drivers who overtook Verstappen on the lap when he was penalised, along with Russell.

Nico Hulkenberg said he was also surprised by Verstappen’s penalty. “I don’t understand it either,” he said. “In Qatar there was a lot of different run profiles, people doing all sorts of different stuff. It’s very easy to get tangled up.

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“But we drivers know that too and I think we also have to build that in and leave some buffer. I don’t understand why Max got a penalty there.”

Verstappen accused Russell of “lying” during the stewards’ meeting and trying to provoke a penalty for him.

However Russell claimed Verstappen adopted a hostile approach from the start of the meeting. “We went into the stewards and for the first five minutes I didn’t say a word because they were only talking to Max and he was already angry and swearing at the stewards,” he said.

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