Fernando Alonso, the two-time world champion and driver for the Aston Martin Formula 1 team, has offered his thoughts on the penalty received by Dutch driver Max Verstappen during qualifying for the Qatar Grand Prix.
The 27-year-old Verstappen was penalized for inadvertently blocking George Russell from Mercedes AMG Petronas on a slow lap, which hindered Russell's performance. As a result, Verstappen lost his pole position to Russell.
The Athletic quotes Alonso as saying:
Verstappen was slow, but George was on a slow lap as well. If that's the case, I'll speed up towards my rival on my warm-up lap in Abu Dhabi and ask for him to be punished.
On December 1, during the race at the Lusail Circuit in Doha, Verstappen, starting from the second position, managed to win the Qatar Grand Prix. The Dutch driver has already secured his fourth consecutive world championship title. Alonso finished the race in sixth place.