Alonso slates Hamilton and F1 after latest 'meaningless' sprint shocker

Fernando Alonso has rounded on Lewis Hamilton and F1 following a chaotic Miami sprint race.

Alonso was again left to lament a miserable sprint just a fortnight after being handed a 10-second time penalty for a collision with Ferrari's Carlos Sainz during the one-third-distance event in China.

The shunt ended Alonso's race at the end of which Sainz finished fifth. The two-time F1 champion was also handed three points on his super licence.

Aston Martin appealed in protest of the penalty, and although the stewards’ verdict has yet to be made official, it is understood it failed.

Going into the sprint in Miami, Alonso was involved in a first-corner incident with Aston Martin team-mate Lance Stroll, seemingly instigated by Hamilton's charge up the inside.

In reviewing footage of what unfolded, Stroll initially turns in on Alonso. However, a slight Hamilton lock-up then sees the seven-time champion hit the right-hand side of the AMR24.

A domino effect results in McLaren's Lando Norris being taken out and retiring, along with Stroll. Alonso managed to continue but took the chequered flag 18th and last of those classified. Penalties for Haas' Kevin Magnussen promoted him one position to 17th.

Over the radio, Alonso described Hamilton's approach to Turn 1 as that of "a bull". Post-event, he added: "Yeah, he came to the inside a little bit out of control."

The stewards ultimately took no action. Seemingly unaware of that at the time of speaking, he said: "Let's see if they decide anything. Probably they don't."

With typical Alonso humour, he concluded: "He's not Spanish so probably no penalty, and then let's see into qualifying and tomorrow's race."

This latest sprint was further validation for Alonso that it is fast becoming an unwanted irritant for the 42-year-old over a grand prix weekend despite F1 introducing it to add value to an event.

"As I've said [before], there is only to lose nothing to gain," he said. "For us, it's more a free practice. We didn't want to take any risk and just complete the race [but] both cars out in the first corner.

"So this is the sprint race. It's completely meaningless. It's only good for damage, penalties and no action."