FIA stewards hand Alonso another reason to feel aggrieved

The FIA stewards have dismissed Aston Martin's appeal of Fernando Alonso's penalty from the Chinese Grand Prix.

The Silverstone-based squad lodged a protest earlier this week after Alonso was given a 10-second time penalty and handed three penalty points on his super licence following an incident during the sprint in Shanghai last month.

Alonso was punished for colliding with Ferrari's Carlos Sainz during the shorter race, resulting in an early retirement for the two-time F1 champion.

Alonso felt there was confusion over the severity of the penalty, insisting he had been the victim of the harshest punishments so far this year.

The stewards met on Friday ahead of the sixth round of the campaign around the Miami International Autodrome where they decided to throw out Aston Martin's appeal.

Stewards explain reasons

For the stewards to re-open the investigation, Aston Martin firstly needed to provide significant, relevant, new evidence that was previously unavailable at the time of the original hearing.

In this case, Aston Martin presented the stewards a forward-facing camera from Alonso's car showing the incident that was downloaded by F1 after the sprint, but was unavailable at the time of the original hearing.

Aston Martin claimed this footage met the threshold of "significant, new and relevant", evidence, which the stewards debated.

In their verdict, the stewards found the footage was "undoubtedly new" and relevant, given it was "sufficient footage" from another camera angle.

It failed to pass the "significant" level, however, as the stewards felt it "would not have caused us to question our decision or otherwise give a perspective that we did not already have of the incident."

As a result, the stewards dismissed the petition for a right of review.

The decision was confirmed following a further day of sprint drama in Miami, with Alonso again heavily involved following a Turn 1 collision with team-mate Lance Stroll, Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton, and Lando Norris of McLaren.

Alonso firmly believed Hamilton was at fault, however, the stewards determined that no driver was predominantly or wholly to blame, allowing the seven-time champion to avoid a penalty.

Discussing the decision with media post-qualifying, including RacingNews365, Alonso went on the attack, stating he would seek talks with FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem as he was concerned there was anti-Spanish bias towards him.

Alonso was later seen leaving the circuit in discussion with Ben Sulayem.