The Spaniard found himself locked in a tight battle with the Ferraris for third place in the closing stages of the Shanghai sprint event, as he struggled with rapidly degrading tyres.
But as the pair swapped positions, they collided at Turn 9, two laps from home, in an incident that left Alonso with a puncture – forcing him to pit for new tires before finally giving up.
Stewards summoned both drivers before qualifying to discuss the matter and determined that Alonso was at fault because he had the opportunity to avoid a collision.
Although Alonso retired, stewards said it was common practice to add 10 seconds to his elapsed time – an anomaly in the regulations that they urged the FIA to examine.
A statement issued by the stewards said: “In accordance with the guidelines on standards of conduct, which were agreed with the teams, an infraction of this nature required a base penalty of 10 seconds to be added to the running time. a car that caused an accident. collision.
“Article 54.3 of the Sporting Regulations specifies that if the 10-second penalty is imposed after the end of a sprint session, then 10 seconds will be added to the elapsed time of the driver concerned. So we added 10 seconds to car 14’s elapsed time.
“Going through the FIA, we note that the language of the regulations regarding when a car has retired and the resulting consequences on penalties that may be imposed or served, particularly where that car is otherwise classified, is somewhat unclear and we would like to recommend that the FIA consider making the necessary changes to bring more clarity to this issue.
Speaking to Spanish broadcaster DAZN after the sprint, Alonso felt Sainz had not given him as much room in their battle as he had given his compatriot earlier in the lap.
“At turn 7 I think we were tied, then at turn 8 I tried to go to the outside,” Alonso said. “But he opened the line not to give me any room, so in turn 9 I did the same thing he did in turn 8.
“I tried to go to the inside so as not to give him any room on the line, but in turn 8 I opened up so as not to touch us, and in turn 9 he didn’t not open. So we touched each other.
Alonso’s three penalty points mean he now has a total of six points for the previous 12-month period.
Additional reporting by Juanjo Saez
