Alonso under investigation for Massa clash

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Fernando Alonso could lose his fifth place in the United States Grand Prix as a result of a post-race investigation.

The McLaren driver overtook Felipe Massa for sixth late in the race, barging past at Turn 16. The two cars bumped wheels and both ran wide on the exit of the corner as a result, with Alonso emerging ahead and Massa picking up a puncture which required a late pit stop.

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Alonso then went on to pass Carlos Sainz on the penultimate lap, securing fifth place while Massa came home seventh. The stewards announced the incident would be investigated after the race and both drivers were summoned to see the stewards at 1645 local time.

Toro Rosso informed Sainz of the investigation after he lost his position to Alonso, telling him to keep the gap to less than five seconds in case of a possible penalty.

"They told me in the last lap when suddenly they saw I hit the cliff of the tyres," Sainz said. "They said: 'You need to remain in the five-second window' because it's the lowest penalty he can get. So they told me: 'Please, five seconds' and I started pushing like crazy but with no tyres and I did some good drifting on the last lap!"

Sainz eventually finished 2.2s behind Alonso, with Massa ending the race a lap down.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.