Ferrari fined for DRS issue with Alonso
The Ferrari team was sanctioned by the Hungarian Grand Prix stewards because Fernando Alonso repeatedly used his DRS while he was more than a second behind the driver in front of him.
At the end of the Hungarian Grand Prix, the Ferrari team was fined 15,000 euros by the stewards who realized that Fernando Alonso had used his DRS multiple times when he normally shouldn’t have been able to.
Jo Bauer, FIA technical delegate, reported the issue to the stewards after realizing while analyzing the data that Fernando Alonso had activated his DRS three times while he was more than a second behind the car in front of him at the detection point. The stewards ruled that the fault was with the Ferrari team and that the advantage gained by Alonso was negligible.
The system allowing the opening of the DRS was not changed by the team between the pre-race and race settings. The driver thus incorrectly received ‘DRS usable’ messages and reacted (although he was not allowed to) to them three times. As soon as the team became aware of the problem, they informed the driver to use the DRS only when instructed by the team. While a small sporting advantage (less than one second over the entire race) was gained, the team argued that car number three [Alonso’s car] also suffered a disadvantage by not being able to use the DRS every time it was possible, the stewards’ statement specifies.
Following Ferrari’s explanations, the stewards have decided not to sanction Fernando Alonso, but Scuderia Ferrari does not escape a penalty as the stewards considered that the team is responsible for ensuring that the [DRS] system operates in accordance with the regulations.
