Ferrari Fined $20,000 for Alonso's Pitlane Incident

If the FIA race stewards have only handed penalties and reprimands to drivers so far, it is now time for a whole team to face the responsibility of its actions. We’re talking about Ferrari, who has been fined $20,000 by the Spanish GP race stewards because of the incident that happened in the pitlane between Fernando Alonso and Mercedes GP’s Nico Rosberg.

During the last qualifying session on Saturday, Ferrari released Fernando Alonso in the exact same time Nico Rosberg was traveling down the pitlane – next to the Ferrari garage – to make his own track return.

Alonso went out of his garage and almost bumped into the German driver, forcing the latter to brake heavily in the pitlane. Later on, in his outlap, Rosberg called for a penalty for Alonso when talking to his race engineer. However, the FIA stewards decided that the incident wasn’t Alonso’s fault, but his team’s.

Consequently, the Spaniard will start tomorrow’s race still from 4th place, as he didn’t receive any grid or money penalty.

“First of all I didn't see Nico, unfortunately. The angle of vision is not perfect to see anyone coming down the pitlane, so you rely on your mechanic,” had suggested Alonso after the incident.

“Then if there is a penalty for this we need to reconsider some of the grands prix we've had so far, in terms of penalties in the pitlane. And third, in case of a penalty, since it's a safety thing in the pitlane it's normally a fine for the team, so hopefully there isn't any of these cases,” further argued the Spaniard after the qualifying session.