Fernando Alonso said Liam Lawson deserved a penalty after he was held up by the first-corner collision triggered by the Racing Bulls driver.

Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri at the start of Saturday’s race when he ran deep into the first corner.

Alonso started the race immediately behind Piastri and Lawson. Their collision forced him to slow down which allowed Isack Hadjar and Oliver Bearman to pass him.

“Lawson, in turn one, he needs maybe a penalty,” Alonso told his race engineer Andrew Vizard at the end of the lap.

Having started from his highest grid position in eight races, Alonso was frustrated to immediately lose positions.

“Unbelievable turn one man,” he added. “One time we start at the front and there’s a kamikaze in the inside.”

“We have reported Lawson for that first lap so they are looking at it,” Vizard told his driver. Lawson pitted on lap two to replace the front wing he damaged in the collision. “Yeah, but he’s out of the race now, so I mean there is no penalty to serve,” Alonso replied. “Crazy.”

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Alonso also lost a position to Leclerc on the first lap after the Ferrari driver went off alongside him on the outside of the first corner. “Also I think I’ve been hit by Leclerc on the outside, but there was a mess, everything,” he added.

The stewards took the unusual step of issuing an explanation for a mid-race decision to take no action over an incident between two drivers. They said they took into account the fact the incident occured at turn one on the first lap of the race and said Lawson was trying to avoid cars in front of him.

“Car 30 [Lawson] made a move to the right and collided with car 81 [Piastri],” they noted. “However in mitigation car 30 made the move to avoid colliding with the rear of car 63 [Russell] whose driver locked up to avoid a collision with car 55 [Sainz].”

However Piastri, who was penalised for his role in a collision at the first corner following a rolling restart at the previous race, also indicated he was unhappy with Lawson’s driving after the race. “I felt like I was one of the only people that actually braked to make the corner and got barged out of the way and that’s [apparently] fine,” he said.

Lawson admitted he was caught out by the lack of grip on the run to the first corner. “It was extremely slippery into turn one and once I committed to brake, the cars in front started checking up and I didn’t have anywhere to go,” he said in a statement issued by his team.

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Penalty box

Should the stewards have issued a penalty? Cast your vote below and have your say in the comments.

Should the stewards have penalised Piastri or Lawson for their collision?

  • No opinion (6%)
  • Strong penalty for Lawson (16%)
  • Light penalty for Lawson (33%)
  • No penalty for either driver (45%)
  • Light penalty for Piastri (0%)
  • Strong penalty for Piastri (0%)

Total Voters: 49

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