Ex-Ferrari and Williams team manager Peter Windsor believes the FIA made a mess of the late standing start following Kevin Magnussen’s crash, with a two-lap sprint having ended in chaos.
After Magnussen crashed heavily on the exit of Turn Two, it was decided that a red flag was needed to clear all the debris from the circuit, resulting in a standing start with two laps remaining.
As a result, the opening corner was complete carnage, with Fernando Alonso having been spun round after getting hit by Carlos Sainz.
The two Spanish drivers had been running third and fourth for the vast majority of the race, with Sainz having seen an opportunity to get himself onto the podium.
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On the rundown to the opening corner, Sainz was on the inside whilst Alonso was on the outside; albeit, ahead of Sainz.
After opting to take the racing-line, Alonso cut across the front of Sainz causing the contact, which resulted in the Ferrari driver being slapped with a five-second time penalty.
Ferrari have since appealed for the penalty to be taken away, with several other incidents on the same lap having been deemed as ‘racing incidents’.
Windsor actually thinks Alonso was “tempting fate” by cutting across the front of Sainz, with the incident having likely done no good to their relationship following reports that they had “fallen out” recently.
“Carlos goes into Turn 1 alongside Fernando Alonso, who’s ahead of him but not necessarily on the racing line [or] so far ahead that he can just use whatever bit of road he requires,” Windsor said on his YouTube channel.
“He still needs Carlos Sainz to see him there and to back away and to give him the corner.
“My point has been, ever since the Alex Albon/Lewis Hamilton penalty in Austria, that this rule is insanely stupid.
“If you’re on the outside of any corner, you are tempting fate. You’re totally in the hands of the cars inside you and if they decide to use all the road, and you have to take avoiding action, you have to take avoiding action and run into the boonies.
“You can’t expect the driver on the inside of any corner to give way to you just because you’re ahead but you’re on the outside.
“The guy on the inside owns the corner. That is the absolute golden rule of motor racing.
“But they’ve come up with this sporting code where, now, if the car is ahead and he’s on the outside, you have to give way to him.
“I think that’s completely wrong and I’ve been saying that for five years.
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“That’s why I say it was Charles Leclerc’s fault [on Lap 1], he shouldn’t have put the Ferrari in that place of danger.
“So there’s Carlos Sainz on the inside [and] Fernando Alonso is now effectively doing what Charles Leclerc was doing and, inevitably, Carlos runs into him.
“I’m not saying there’s anything malicious there at all but of course we have to add that, as I understand it, Carlos and Fernando have fallen out recently and there’s not a lot of love lost between them now – but that’s not relevant as I’m sure that wasn’t going through the minds of either of them. They were just focused on doing what they were doing.”