Alonso escapes with fine after DRS issue

Ferrari has been fined €15,000 for a DRS infringement on Fernando Alonso’s car in Hungary, but the Spaniard has held on to his fifth place.

Alonso was reported to the stewards after the race after data showed that he had apparently used the DRS on three occasions when he was not within a second of the car ahead.

In essence the team forgot to change the DRS from qualifying to race settings. The drivers always anticipate DRS use by pressing the button as they approach the zone, and in practice and qualifying they can use it every lap.

In the race they press the button if they think they might be within a second and when they are, it activates. In this case when Alonso pressed the button the DRS activated anyway as it was still in qualifying mode.

On two occasions he used it for the whole straight and on the other he was told to switch off.

Thereafter he had to wait until told by the team that he could activate it, and thus in effect potentially lost more than the second that the FIA estimated that he had gained with the illegal DRS uses. Thus it was deemed that a fine was sufficient.