Saturday morning’s sprint event got off to a dramatic start at the opening corner. Hamilton made an aggressive move down the inside, causing a chain reaction of collisions.
Alonso was on the outside and tried to leave space, but he brushed Lance Stroll. Then, Hamilton tagged Alonso, pushing him wide into Stroll again. This collision sent McLaren’s Lando Norris spinning out of the race. Stroll also had to retire due to the damage, while Alonso had to stop for a tire change because of a puncture.
Despite the chaos, Hamilton continued without any issues. However, he later lost his points finish due to speeding in the pit lane.
After the race, Alonso suggested that Hamilton might escape punishment because “he was not Spanish.” This remark referred to Alonso’s own experiences facing sanctions for incidents in Australia and China, where he believed he had done nothing wrong.
Later, the FIA stewards explained their decision not to take action. They said it was difficult to determine one driver as mainly responsible for the collisions.
The stewards stated, “From the video evidence, it appeared that there were at least three collisions… However, we were not able to identify one or more drivers wholly or predominantly to blame for the various collisions or any one of them.”
They also mentioned that incidents like these at the first corner of the first lap are treated with more leniency. Therefore, they decided not to take further action.
Despite the collisions involving multiple drivers, the stewards couldn’t pinpoint one driver as primarily at fault. They considered the location and timing of the incident, leading them to opt for no further action.
