"Not okay with the decision of the stewards" - Alfa Romeo wants consistency from the FIA after driver penalties in Jeddah
Alfa Romeo was left fuming with the 5-second penalty given to Guanyu Zhou during the race for going off the track and gaining a lasting advantage. During the race, Zhou had a bad start and dropped down the order. While making his way through the field, he overtook Alex Albon before Turn 1 on the start-finish straight.
Once he reached T1, however, he overshot the braking point and went off the track. Zhou subsequently slowed down to let Albon close the gap but did not give up the place. Later, he was given a 5-sec penalty for the same, and his race unraveled from that point onwards.
🏻 P11
We gave it a shot but we were just outside. For sure there's more opportunities ahead.
ZHO 👉🏻 P11
BOT 👉🏻 DNF
#SaudiArabianGP https://t.co/oBJosX9b0M
Team boss Fred Vasseur was not happy with the stewards' decision and made it clear to the media after the race. He said:
“I’m not okay with the decision of the stewards on [Alex] Albon, because he was miles away. He overtook Albon much before the braking point, and he went straight. And he slowed down to avoid to have an advantage. [Guanyu] Zhou asked us, so we had a look on the video. And he overtook him and Albon was almost behind him. And so we said, ‘No no, it’s fair, it’s fine.’”
Vasseur was adamant that the team will make sure a certain level of consistency is maintained in the way these incidents are handled in the future as well, saying:
“Okay, if they are consistent, and it’s always like this, it’s always like this. But we will remind them next time. It’s not that he went straight when he overtook Albon. He overtook Albon, and then he went straight.”
Alfa Romeo impressed with Guanyu Zhou's speed in the race
In Jeddah @ZhouGuanyu24 became the first driver to land a "gaining an advantage" time penalty since the race director decided not to advise teams to give the place back. And @alfaromeoorlen boss Fred Vasseur is not happy...: motorsport.com/f1/news/alfa-r…
Speaking about the Chinese rookie driver, the Alfa Romeo boss was satisfied with what Guanyu Zhou was able to deliver in the race. Recapping the race, Vasseur said that both the cars had decent pace throughout the race and the way Zhou made a comeback in the race was quite impressive.
Praising Zhou, the Frenchman said:
“He had a good start but had contact with Ricciardo at Turn 1. And then he went to the anti-stall, and he fell back in P20, five seconds behind everybody. Then I think he did a very, very strong race, because he came back from five seconds behind to P13.”
He went on to add, saying:
“We made the mistake because the mechanic had an issue with the radio, and he touched the car during the pit stop. And then Zhou had the drive-through. And even with all this mess he was able to come back to P11, and not far away from Lewis [Hamilton], and P9 and P10. I’m very pleased with the pace on both cars, but it is like it is.”
Alfa Romeo left the Saudi Arabian GP with no points on the board after Valtteri Bottas retired from the race. The team has shown consistent pace but will be worried by the reliability issues that plague the car.