McLaren reprimanded for Alonso error

© XPB 

McLaren has been reprimanded after fitting the wrong tyre to Fernando Alonso's car during qualifying for the British Grand Prix.

Alonso was fitted with one of the tyres allocated to Jenson Button's car during Q1, with the team being called to the stewards to explain the error. Following an investigation, the stewards opted to reprimand McLaren rather than handing out any penalty to Alonso.

Explaining how the incident happened, racing director Eric Boullier says it was simply a case of miscommunication.

"What happened is we had a double pit stop with both cars," Boullier said. "There was a little bit of confusion caused by Jenson being stopped at the FIA scales and one of the tyres of Jenson was put on Fernando's car."

Button then joked: "That's why he was so quick!"

As a result, Alonso retains his grid slot of 17th place ahead of team-mate Button in 18th, Will Stevens 19th and Roberto Merhi 20th.

Click here for Saturday's gallery from the British Grand Prix

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter