Former Minardi boss Paul Stoddart believes Lewis Hamilton should've received a five-second penalty at Sunday's Canadian Grand Prix.
Mercedes star Hamilton was probed by Formula One stewards in Montreal following an incident in the pit lane with Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso. The stewards decided to take no action against either of the drivers, but Stoddart thinks Hamilton was at fault.
The incident unfolded when Alonso and Hamilton pitted at the same time, with the latter's stopping point just in front of his rival's. Alonso then exited the pits marginally quicker than Hamilton, which almost caused a collision when the Brit pulled out. Alonso's stop time was 2.3 seconds, while Hamilton's was 3.2 seconds.
Alonso was forced to swerve out of the way to avoid the exiting Mercedes. Stoddart believes Hamilton should've waited for Alonso to get ahead because the Spaniard's pit stop was quicker. The former F1 chief has labelled the incident as "very dangerous".
In his column for RacingNews365, Stoddart wrote: "I really think that incident with Hamilton in the pit lane was worthy of a five-second penalty at the least, but was also very dangerous, because it could have ruined both their races."
Two-time world champion Alonso is enjoying a solid season. He is third in the Drivers' Championship after six podiums, finishing second behind Max Verstappen in Canada. Hamilton, who is fourth in the overall standings, completed Sunday's podium.
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Stoddart described Alonso's race in Montreal as "excellent". Sky Sports pundit Martin Brundle also criticised Mercedes for Hamilton's controversial pit release, labelling it "unsafe". Brundle also called it a "lucky escape" for Hamilton after the stewards' verdict.
Seven-time world champion Hamilton interrupted Alonso's post-race interview with Sky Sports to joke about the incident. The Brit laughed: "His reactions are a little slow... it's an age thing." Alonso laughed and said: "Austria [the next race], two weeks time."
Mercedes chief Toto Wolff was asked about the controversy by reporters. He said: "Shaking the steering a little bit and a little bit of touching of the brakes. He [Alonso] is good at that, the cries of, 'I nearly hit him'... a bit of drama."
Sunday's race between Verstappen, Alonso and Hamilton has given fans a glimmer of hope of a title race between the three world champions. Yet Alonso and Hamilton will need to do something special if either of them are to catch Verstappen's Red Bull.
Verstappen is poised to win a third consecutive world title after winning four races in-a-row and opening a 69-point gap over his Red Bull colleague Sergio Perez in the title race. Hamilton called it a "privilege" to be battling Verstappen and Alonso for wins.
He added: "This is quite an iconic top three - I don't know if there's been a top three like this ever before, I don't believe there has. I'm really hoping at some stage we have a more level playing field in our cars and then we'll have much more exciting races in the future."
