An unhappy Fernando Alonso took exception with a call made by the stewards in Sunday's US Grand Prix, insisting Kimi Raikkonen should have been ordered to give back a position the Finn had gained by running off the track at Turn 1.
Alonso and Raikkonen were battling for position on lap 16 when the pair entered COTA's Turn 1 side-by-side, with the Alpine driver on the outside.
Alonso's momentum ran the Alfa charger wide on the exit, but Raikkonen nevertheless got a run on the Spaniard and passed him.
In a race where several drivers were ordered to give back a position gained after putting all four wheels off the track, Raikkonen was not ordered to do so, a decision that baffled Alonso.
"The rules are a little bit random," quipped the visibly frustrated Alpine driver. "It is the way it is unfortunately. The fans here in America, they saw a show that they didn't deserve".
Alonso later elaborated on his beef with the FIA's call, accusing the stewards of being inconsistent.
"I don't know if you saw the whole race, but there was the same incident I think on lap one with Lando [Norris], in Turn 12. He braked on the inside, overtook Sainz, Sainz went off track, retook the position and [he had to give the place back].
"And then in the last part of the race, when I overtook Giovinazzi for the second time, I braked on the inside at Turn 12. And again, I forced him off track. He regained the position off track and that time he had to give me back the position.
"So, in a way, you always force a guy to go off track when you brake on the inside: you commit to an overtaking. And they [the driver on the outside] need to decide if they back off, or keep the full throttle off the track outside the circuit.
"It is what Sainz did. Giovinazzi did, I did. And we have to give back the position for sure, because you are running full throttle off track. But Kimi didn't. So that's why I felt that it was not consistent.
"I lost like 10 seconds by doing all these things, and obviously the point possibilities were gone."
Although frustrated, Alonso eventually played down the FIA's "strange" call as it had no bearing on a race from which he retired due to a rear wing failure.
"I mean I'm not too mad about this because it is only a one point place;" he added. "And then we have the failure of the rear wing anyway, so it didn't change our race, arguably. So this is not a problem."
After Sunday's race, FIA race director Michael Masi acknowledged that the stewards' call on the Alonso-Raikkonen spat had been "marginal".
"I can understand his frustration," Masi said. "I’ve not heard his frustration, but I can understand it.
"The call with regards to him and Kimi at Turn 1 was certainly marginal. And something we’ll have a discussion with the next drivers meeting with all the drivers about it.
"I think there were two parts to the story, obviously the overtake and looking at the forcing off track. And then the subsequent element of the overtake.
"It’s something we’ll discuss as a group at the next meeting."
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