Jaime Alguersuari Believes Sebastian Vettel Deserved Penalty At Monza

Former F1 driver and BBC Radio 5 Live analyst Jaime Alguersuari believes Sebastian Vettel fully deserved his drive-thru penalty at last weekend’s Italian Grand Prix, after forcing World Championship leader Fernando Alonso off the circuit at turn 4. The German went on to retire shortly after his penalty, due to another alternator issue.

As the duo battled for position on lap 25 of the Italian Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso tried to overtake the Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel around the outside of turn 3, reminiscent of a similar maneuver carried out by Vettel on Alonso the previous year. However, unlike last year’s maneuver, Alonso was unable to make the move stick after being forced wide by Sebastian Vettel. The stewards then decided to impose a drive-thru penalty upon Vettel for forcing the Spaniard off the track, after Alonso was heard complaining on the team radio about the German’s driving.

Jaime Alguersuari believes the race stewards were correct in imposing the drive-thru penalty, for what he thinks was aggressive driving from the reigning World Champion. The 22-year-old Spaniard raced for Toro Rosso for three seasons in Formula 1, before being replaced along with team-mate Sebastien Buemi prior to the 2012 season. Alguersuari has since joined Pirelli as their test driver, as well as becoming BBC Radio 5 Live’s analyst alongside lead commentator James Allen.

“The stewards at the Italian Grand Prix were absolutely right to give Sebastian Vettel a penalty for his maneuver on Fernando Alonso.” Explained Jaime Alguersuari in his blog on the BBC website, “It is very dangerous when you push someone off the track as they are trying to overtake you at that speed – especially at Monza. You are doing more than 180mph through the Curva Grande [turn 3] in a Formula 1 car. The problem was that Vettel moved towards the other driver in a very aggressive way – and at a very high speed – and he did not leave Alonso enough room to stay on the track. Alonso was not behind; he was already past half of Vettel’s car. If you do that, you have to be penalized.

“Once you are on the grass you lose a lot of grip and it’s very bumpy. You need to back off to get your speed down and fight the car. It was not at all the same situation as last year, when Vettel passed Alonso in the same place with two wheels on the grass. Then, Alonso left room for one car. On Sunday, Vettel did not.”

There was understandably mixed opinions on the stewards decision after the race, with Fernando Alonso naturally in favor of the penalty, whereas Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull thought the penalty was harsh. With Paul di Resta committing a similar offense against the Williams of Bruno Senna earlier in the race as the pair negotiated turns 4 and 5, it’s understandable that the consistency of the stewards may be questioned. Either way, it’s clear that the stewards are continuing to stamp out dangerous driving in F1, especially after the Romain Grosjean incident at the Belgian Grand Prix.

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James Allen Becomes BBC Radio 5 Live Commentator

Ex-ITV commentator James Allen has been announced as the new BBC Radio 5 Live lead commentator, replacing David Croft who last year was announced as the commentator for the new dedicated F1 channel Sky Sports F1 HD alongside former BBC colleagues Martin Brundle and Anthony Davidson.

James Allen took over from Murray Walker as ITV commentator in 2002, alongside Martin Brundle and was immediately under the spotlight by critics, some believing he was trying to sound too much like Murray Walker and that his enthusiasm sometimes got the better of him, especially when Jenson Button won his first ever Grand Prix at the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix.

However, regardless of what the critics have said about him, no-one can deny that James Allen’s enthusiasm for Formula 1 is unmatched by any of todays journalists and commentators. In 2009 he became the Formula One Management World Feed Interviewer when he was asked to do so for the 2009 British Grand Prix in place of Peter Windsor, and he asked questions for the post-qualifying and post-race TV interviews. 

James Allen will continue writing for his website and will also continue his contributions to Australia’s Ten Sport F1 coverage. With the BBC loosing the majority of its major talent to Sky Sports for 2012, the BBC couldn’t have picked a more enthusiastic commentator to head their BBC Radio 5 Live coverage.

Martin Brundle Officially Announces Move To Sky Sports

Former Formula 1 driver and current BBC Commentator, Martin Brundle, has today officially answered speculations about his 2012 plans by stating in his Sunday Times column that he will join the new Sky Sports F1 HD channel next season.

The former Tyrrell and McLaren driver first commentated on the sport at the 1989 Monaco Grand Prix when he retired from the race and was asked to join Murray Walker in the commentary box as James Hunt failed to appear. His next appearance as a commentator was partially throughout the 1995 season as he shared a drive at Ligier with Aguri Suzuki, however for 1996 he gained a full racing seat with Jordan and didn’t commentate again until 1997 when he officially joined ITV as co-commentator alongside the legendary Murray Walker.

He continued this role as co-commentator at ITV all though the channels running of the sport, which included commentating alongside James Allen once Murray had retired in 2001. When, in 2008, it was announced that BBC were set to get the rights back, Martin Brundle (along with Ted Kravitz) were part of the ITV team to move to the BBC for the 2009 season. For this season Brundle was once again co-commentator alongside Jonathan Legard, who was replaced in 2011 by another F1 driver in David Coulthard. This promoted Martin Brundle up to the lead commentator role, a role which the BBC must now try and replace, and rumors are circulating of Ben Edwards joining the team for 2012.

It has yet to be announced who will be joining Martin Brundle as Sky Sports F1 Commentator for 2012, however there are strong rumors that Sky have signed another BBC commentator (this time of Radio 5 Live origin) in David Croft. Whether this information is true or not time will tell.

Martin Brundle said in his Sunday Times column that the key factor for him joining Sky was his need to commentate on all 20 live races, not delayed broadcasts. Another key factor, he said, was the fact that Sky will not show any adverts during the race, something which the British public grew frustrated over with the ITV broadcasts between 1997 – 2008.

Many BBC fans will greatly miss him, many will simply migrate with him to Sky. Whatever the outcome, it is undeniable that Sky have secured simply the best commentator there currently is for their 2012 Formula 1 coverage.