Alonso met twice with FIA president in Miami

Fernando Alonso met twice with the FIA president ahead of the Miami GP.

A day earlier, the Spaniard said he would seek talks with Mohammed Ben Sulayem over concerns that "nationality" is influencing which drivers are penalised the hardest by stewards.

Then, in Sunday’s Miami GP, another Spaniard - Carlos Sainz - admitted he was surprised that he was penalised rather than Australian Oscar Piastri for their wheel-to-wheel battle.

"I don’t think about nationalities, I think about consistency and inconsistency," the Ferrari driver said.

"Today I was surprised that Piastri did something similar to what (Kevin) Magnussen did yesterday and today he didn’t get any penalty. I said to myself ’if we are all going to race like this, let’s go for it’."

Alongside imagery of 42-year-old Alonso talking to Ben Sulayem in the Miami paddock, the Spanish broadcaster DAZN claims the two-time champion also met behind the scenes with the FIA president.

"Yeah, useful with him yesterday. He’s always on board with every opinion that the drivers have. He knows that we are the ones driving the cars and that we can have some suggestions on things. There are a couple of points that we need to address as a sport. He always listens to us. Between all, if we make F1 a better sport and a little bit more consistent."

Alonso also admitted it had simply been a bad weekend both for himself personally and Aston Martin.

"We started the year as the fifth best team, but here in Miami we were struggling even more, fighting with Alpine and Racing Bulls," he said.

"In Imola we will bring some improvements, so let’s see if it brings us closer to Mercedes. But I haven’t felt very good either in terms of performance here.

"We have to take a step forward, everyone else is taking it and in Imola we need to do it too."

Indeed, Alpine’s Esteban Ocon finished just behind Alonso on Sunday, moving the crisis-struck Enstone based team ahead of the still-pointsless Williams and Sauber.

"I really feel progress," Ocon’s teammate Pierre Gasly admitted. "Our developments on the car are clearly working in line with our expectations."