Alonso frustrated by FIA ruling
World champion Fernando Alonso was left to rue a ruling by race officials at the Japan Grand Prix that took the shine off Renault’s move back to the top of the standings in their battle with McLaren for the Formula One constructors’ title.
Alonso’s charge through the field from 16th on the grid to a third-place finish was hampered by an FIA ruling after the Spaniard had run through the chicane at the end of lap eight, a move which saw Alonso emerge in front of Red Bull driver Christian Klien.
Alonso allowed Klien to repass immediately, only to overtake the Austrian at the end of the start-finish straight on the following lap, a move that was insufficient to appease the governing body.
As a result, Alonso was instructed to allow Klien past again on Lap 10 and it took the 24-year-old another three laps before he finally had the Red Bull man in his rearview mirror once and for all.
“It sounds strange but I am quite disappointed with third,” said Alonso. “The car felt just fantastic today, and I thought that we were probably a match for McLaren for the first time since the start of the season.
“So after starting ahead of them and having the opportunity to beat them, it didn’t really work out for us today.
“There was a strange incident with Klien, when I was seven seconds ahead and told to give the position back, which surprised me a little bit. And then, with the strategy today, I just seemed to end up in traffic behind slower cars all the time.”
Alonso’s third place finish, along with team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella securing a spot one place higher on the podium, moved Renault two points ahead of McLaren in the constructors’ championship with just next week’s final round in China remaining.
That was despite an astonishing win by Kimi Raikkonen – who started the race in 17th place on the grid – which the Finn achieved thanks to a daring last-lap overtaking manoeuvre past Fisichella.
But Renault managing director Flavio Briatore felt the decision to haul Alonso back cost his team a better result.
“I think the key moment of this race was not at the end, but in the first stint when Fernando was forced to give his position back to Klien,” said the Italian.
“We didn’t understand why, because he had already done it once, but the FIA asked him to do it again.
“That cost him nine seconds, and meant he was in much more traffic during the rest of the race.
“Without that delay we could have been in front of Raikkonen after the second stop, and maybe we would have seen a different result.”
