Why Fernando Alonso was wrong over his Lewis Hamilton FIA complaints

Fernando Alonso has questioned whether Lewis Hamilton should have received further FIA punishment for potentially driving an unsafe car in the last laps of the Singapore Grand Prix.

With the Aston Martin car closing in, Hamilton was complaining over the radio that he had lost brakes and was seen cutting corners just to stay in the race.

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Hamilton’s issues began in lap 60 of the 62-lap race and he radioed in to engineer Riccardo Adami saying he was “losing my brakes, mate.”

His lap times began to plummet and with Alonso closing in behind, Hamilton cut a number of corners which, while ensuring he crossed the line seventh, enraged Alonso and got him into trouble with the stewards.

The stewards handed him a five-second penalty, pushing him behind Alonso in the classified results, but Hamilton suggested he should have been given a “force majeure” and avoided any punishment.

The stewards took a dim view to that argument and pointed to the Driving Standards Guidelines which state when a driver is allowed to leave the track.

They are:

If a driver exceeds track limits following an obvious loss of control.

If a driver exceeds track limits in order to avoid a collision e.g., Typical Lap 1, Turn 1 incident.

If a driver has been considered to be “forced off” by another car (in a decision of the stewards).

If a driver exceeds track limits and is penalised for gaining a lasting advantage or unsafe re-join.

If a driver exceeds track limits during an incident which is penalised for any other reason, e.g., if a driver exceeds track limits during an incident for which they are penalised for causing a collision.

The stewards believe that Hamilton suffering from brake issues did not fit any of these requirements.

While all this was happening, Alonso was having a moan of his own about the erratic driving he saw up ahead.

“F**king hell man, cannot believe it,” he said. “I cannot fking believe it.”

While Hamilton has since poked fun at his former team-mate’s complaints, the most interesting radio message came from Alonso asking: “Is it safe to drive with no brakes?” which is a good question and is again worth referring back to the rulebook.

In the sporting regulations set out by the FIA, the relevant section is 26.10 which refers to vehicles driving in a possibly unsafe condition.

It states: “Any driver whose car has significant and obvious damage to a structural component which results in it being in a condition presenting an immediate risk of endangering the driver or others, or whose car has a significant failure or fault which means it cannot reasonably return to the pit lane without unnecessarily impeding another competitor or otherwise hindering the Competition must leave the track as soon as it is safe to do so.

“At the sole discretion of the Race Director, should a car be deemed to have such significant and obvious damage to a structural component, or such significant failure or fault, the Competitor may be instructed that the car must leave the track as soon as it is safe to do so.”

This is one of the more well-known regulations as it is not uncommon for a front wing to be damaged and have one part hanging off. In the Singapore race, Lando Norris lost a portion of his front wing after hitting his team-mate Oscar Piastri, but McLaren will have argued that the remaining piece was not a risk.

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If a driver’s car is found to be dangerous, they will be shown the black and orange flag and be required to return to the pits to either have it repaired or to retire the car.

So, in Hamilton’s case, the decision will have come down to race director Rui Marques and his assessment as to whether Hamilton was posing a danger to his fellow drivers.

While we cannot speak for Marques, it could be that, unlike a front wing, a brake disc is unlikely to be dislodged from the car and therefore does not pose a threat to any other drivers on the track.

There has also been a precedent set this season. Back in China, Norris raced for the last two laps with a brake issue and he described it as “scary” and his “worst nightmare” after getting out.

On that occasion, there was no FIA intervention even though George Russell was closer behind than Alonso was to Hamilton.

It is also worth noting that F1 drivers tend to overexaggerate an issue, so when Hamilton said he had “no brakes,” that could have also meant that he had significantly less brakes than he started with rather than having a complete absence of them.

All in all, it is Hamilton rather than Alonso who could feel a little hard done by when it comes to the regulations, as he could argue that losing brakes is “an obvious loss of control” and therefore constitutes him being spared a penalty.

As for the potentially unsafe condition of the car, the FIA have made a rod for their own back with the Norris decision earlier this year, and it seems there is a definite line between whether a part could fall off and hit another driver and a part that may well be broken but is inside the car.

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