Fernando Alonso has backed the stewards’ decision to penalise Sebastian Vettel in the Italian Grand Prix, with the German having taken a drive-through after forcing the Spaniard off-track. The incident happened at the Curva Grande, which was the scene of a similar moment for the same two drivers when dicing for the lead in last year’s race.
In 2011, Vettel had clipped the grass with two wheels when passing Alonso for the top spot. This afternoon, the entire Ferrari was off the circuit after Vettel began to move over towards the outside of the circuit as Alonso was setting up a manoeuvre to pass.
“Last year there was no penalty and this year this was,” Alonso, who finished a delighted third, told reporters in the paddock. “For the people who understand, there is a big difference between what happened last year and what happened this year.”
Discussing the rest of his race, Alonso reported:
“It was difficult starting from tenth, but we knew we maybe had the quickest car this weekend. We had the best car, so we knew it was possible to gain positions.”
As Alonso collected 15 points for his seventh rostrum result in 12 races, Vettel retired with an alternator failure – the same problem which took him out of the lead in Valencia.
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| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |  L. Hamilton | McLaren | 1:19:41.221 |
| 2. | S. Perez | Sauber | +4.356 |
| 3. | F. Alonso | Ferrari | +20.594 |
| 4. | F. Massa | Ferrari | +29.667 |
| 5. | K. Raikkonen | Lotus | +30.881 |
| 6. | M. Schumacher | Mercedes | +31.259 |
| 7. | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | +33.550 |
| 8. | P. di Resta | Force India | +41.057 |
| 9. | K. Kobayashi | Sauber | +43.898 |
| 10. | B. Senna | Williams | +48.144 |
| Full results | |||
| Fernando Alonso | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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| More Fernando Alonso photos | |||
| Sebastian Vettel | |||
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| More Sebastian Vettel photos | |||
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