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Fernando Alonso: "Sometimes you wonder - will the judges' attitude change if the drivers switch places in a controversial episode?"

The Aston Martin driver doubts that Max Verstappen would have received a penalty and lost pole position at the Qatar Grand Prix if the controversial episode in qualifying had involved a driver of any nationality instead of George Russell. Or if Verstappen himself had been the one at fault in that episode.

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“Sometimes, when the stewards apply certain rules or penalties to someone, it raises the question of why they don’t continue to act the same way thereafter? Because sometimes, already in the next race, those rules cease to apply – and sometimes it depends on the nationality of the driver.

If I do the same thing [that Russell did in Qatar with Verstappen], then I probably won’t get the same advantage that George received. Or take the incident at the Australian Grand Prix – when there wasn’t even any contact, the cars passed each other 30 meters apart, but someone went off the track. And in the end, I received a 20-second penalty for that.

So yes, sometimes you start to wonder – would the stewards' attitude change if the drivers were switched in that controversial episode? That’s what it’s about,” Alonso said.