No penalties for Alonso and Vettel
The race stewards at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix have decided that neither Sebastian Vettel or Fernando Alonso will be penalised, contrary to popular belief among fans.
Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso was under investigation for gaining an advantage while going off track, based on Article 20.2 of the Sporting Regulations. The Spaniard came out of the pits and sped up to stay ahead of the cars coming through in turn 3, namely Jean-Eric Vergne in the Toro Rosso followed by Felipe Massa in the other Ferrari. The matter could not be concluded during the race, as the stewards wanted to hear the drivers about this incident and review telemetry of both cars.
During the meeting, it was found that Jean-Eric Vergne did not see Alonso while the Ferrari driver had all right to exit the pit lane full throttle.
"While Car 3 did leave the track at Turn 3-4 the stewards believe that he had no choice, as Car 18 closed on him. Car 18 was at the end of his stint with worn tyres and was fully committed to the Turn as Car 3 exited the pits. Telemetry confirms that Car 3 was significantly faster, on option tyres, and had the advantage throughout the sequence. The drivers’ explanations were completely clear. Therefore the Stewards determine that neither car could avoid the incident, and no advantage was gained as a result of the incident."
Sebastian Vettel on the other hand did some donuts again, but contrary to doing it after the Indian GP, he did return his car to the pits. As such the German was not in breach of the parc ferme rules and therefore was not penalised like he was one week ago.
