Alonso: Hamilton arrived like a bull, he's not Spanish nothing will happen
F1 NewsSunday, 05 May 2024 at 11:53
Fernando Alonso accused Lewis Hamilton of driving "like a bull" as the Mercedes driver skittled into the Spaniard's Aston Martin, which caused a domino effect that ultimately ended the 2024 Miami Grand Prix Sprint Race for Lando Norris and Lance Stroll on the spot.
In a sheer example of the biased commentary, Sky F1 and F1TV pundits collectively ignored the causing role that Hamilton played in triggering a first-team melee. Had it not been a Brit how would they have reacted to what was a blatant penalty? Whether you are an LH44 fan or not.
But Stewards saw no wrong which Alonso predicted would happen. During the incident in Turn 1 on the opening lap of the Miami F1 Sprint, after avoiding the out-of-control Mercedes, the Spaniard reported over the radio: "Hamilton arrived like a bull."
After the 19-lap race, Alonso added: "We'll see what they decide. He was a little bit out of control. I guess they won't decide anything because he is not Spanish.
"But he ruined the race for a few people, especially Lando Norris, who had a very fast car and he was out in that incident," Alonso said of the McLaren driver's misfortune. "They" being the FIA Race Stewards on duty noted the incident but did nothing.
Norris said it was "obvious" who was to blame, pointing a finger at his fellow Briton: “Lewis dived up the inside and caused the incident. Nothing I could do about that.”
McLaren boss Zak Brown added: “It looked like Lewis got overly aggressive, couldn’t get it slowed down for the first corner and drove into a couple of cars that were already driving into themselves.”
FIA Race Stewards saw no wrong in Hamilton's charge into the Aston Martins
The FIA Stewards thought differently and deemed: “From the video evidence, it appeared that there were at least three collisions that occurred – the first between cars 14 [Alonso] and 18 [Stroll] and then between car 44 [Hamilton] and car 14 and finally between car 18 and car four [Norris].
“While it appeared to us that the incidents began with cars 14 and 18, the sudden and fast arrival of car 44 contributed to the various 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.
“Also keeping in mind that this was in turn one of lap one where greater latitude is given to drivers for incidents, we took no further action," the FIA Steward's concluded.
However, they did hand Hamilton a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit lane, which sent him down to P16 and denied him a point. Mercedes woes with their W15 package go from bad to worse.
Battling hard in the heart of the midfield has not been a common experience for Hamilton prior to his last few seasons with the German team before his forthcoming Ferrari adventure
While most of the Sky F1 and F1TV, ignored Hamilton's Turn 1 shenanigans on Saturday, Martin Brundle like many surprised by the call backed Alonso: "I think there were two out-of-control cars there - Stroll and Hamilton. He used the two Aston Martins on the outside as skittles, really to try and slow down."
Brundle's assessment sums up what we saw happen in the Miami Sprint, however, it did little to quell long-standing accusations by 'foreigners' that the punditry available to them on Sky F1 and F1TV is tilted towards the interest of British drivers.
Supporting claims that it would've been a very different story if Briton Lewis had been the victim and a 'Carlos Sainz' or a 'Sergio Perez' or even an Alonso the culprits.
Big Question: Is the Sky F1 and F1TV coverage favouring British drivers too much?
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