Christian Horner & Geri Horner’s Netflix Stardom Under Threat as Fernando Alonso Fiasco Points at New DTS Plot

It has almost become a tradition for Netflix to do an episode in each Drive to Survive season with the location set in Christian Horner‘s house. While some feel it is an excellent way to give fans an insight into his life away from the F1 paddocks, others find it unnecessary. The latest Fernando Alonso controversy has left fans more confused about the penalty rulings of the FIA. That led to the legendary voice of F1 slamming Netflix for going for the low-hanging fruit rather than explaining the technical aspect of the sport to the fans.

Like his former Alpine teammate, Esteban Ocon in Bahrain, Alonso got a time penalty for starting the race from an incorrect position in Saudi Arabia. Another coincidence followed when the Spaniard failed to serve the penalty correctly, inviting another 10-second time penalty. That briefly saw him concede his P3 finish in George Russell’s favor. However, an appeal from Aston Martin saw FIA overturn its ruling, reinstating the podium finish in the 41-year-old’s favor.

While discussing the issue during a recent episode of Sky Sports F1 podcast, commentator David Croft said, “Maybe there’s an episode in Drive to Survive where actually we can stop going to Christian Horner’s house and maybe we can actually go to the FIA stewards room and we can actually look [at] detail, simplified detail of the sport to help people understand.”

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Crofty appealed for more clarity on the issue because of the confusion surrounding whether the rear jackman touched the car before Alonso stood stationary for the stipulated 5 seconds. Moreover, he raised the issue of drivers, eventually ending up losing more time during such penalties as the mechanics are more used to working with the car’s momentum.

Max Verstappen unhappy with the Fernando Alonso penalty

Ocon, after the race in Bahrain, admitted his mistake of not placing the car within the limits. However, he also raised the issue of poor visibility from the car, which made it difficult to gauge where he actually stood. Max Verstappen, reacting to Alonso, penalty too talked on similar terms and slammed the resultant penalties.

In the FIA press conference, the Dutchman said, “It’s painful when you get penalized for that, but it’s almost the same as with the track limits. It seems really crazy when people think they can gain an advantage by being more to the left or right at the start. I don’t know how we can do that better.” [Translated using Google]

He added, “Visibility is very poor when you’re in the car and that’s probably why you’re not always correctly positioned in the starting area.” 

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Drivers may be as livid with the penalties for acts that are not deliberate on their part. However, it looks like FIA is taking a stricter approach to the issue this season.