BUDAPEST — Race stewards punished McLaren Mercedes harshly after they deemed that Fernando Alonso had prevented Lewis Hamilton the chance to complete his final qualifying lap.
For the first time ever in F-1, officials told a team before the race that they would not earn any points in the Constructors Championship.
Furthermore, the officials docked Alonso five grid places, dropping him from the pole, which Hamilton then inherited.
The drama unfolded in the final 15-minute qualifying session in which McLaren planned to have Alonso go out ahead of Hamilton. Instead, Hamilton roared out first.
In the final three minutes of the session both drivers pitted for tires prior to one final flying lap. Alonso pitted first and was still in the pit stall when Hamilton pulled up behind him.
The team told Alonso that they were going to hold him for 20 seconds so that he’d have a gap in traffic. The “lollipop” was raised after those 20 seconds, but Alonso remained stationary for another 10 seconds. Alonso said he was asking if the correct set of tires had been fitted to his car.
Officials said that Kimi Raikkonen was the only driver on the track, so there was no need to keep Alonso in the pits for the 20 seconds. They also said that Alonso’s explanation why he waited an additional 10 seconds was not acceptable. The result was both team and driver were penalized. McLaren filed an appeal, but is considering withdrawing it.