Fernando Alonso has leapt to the defence of Carlos Sainz after his fellow Formula 1 competitor picked up a post-race time penalty for a collision. The lap 57 race restart included several incidents which triggered a final red flag period, one of which involved Ferrari's Sainz making contact with Alonso, sending the Aston Martin into a spin and into the barrier. The stewards deemed Sainz the guilty party, and gave the Ferrari driver a five-second time penalty, which dropped him from P4 at the restart down to P12. When asked about the incident, Alonso believed the punishment to be "too harsh" for a first corner incident.
"The penalty's too harsh I think," Alonso told media, including RacingNews365.com . "Because on lap one it is very difficult always to judge what the grip level is, and I think we don't go intentionally into another car, because we know that we risk our car and our final position. "Sometimes you end up in places that you wish you weren't in that moment, and it's just part of racing. "I didn't see the replay properly, but for me it feels too harsh."
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