McLaren’s Fernando Alonso has been relegated from tenth to eleventh by the Russian Grand Prix race stewards, meaning his loses his point.
The Spaniard had finished the race tenth behind team-mate Jenson Button to hand McLaren only its second double points finish of the season.
However during the race he was warned by his team and the FIA that he had repeatedly cut Turn 16 and continued to do so after being warned not to.
As a result, he was handed a post-race five-second time penalty, demoting him a single place and promoting Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen to tenth.
“To have both cars finish in the top 10 at a circuit where we didn’t expect to fare well, was a nice surprise,” he said after the race.
“It was just a shame to lose out [on tenth] afterwards. In fact, the car performed very well in the race – I think we were able to look after the tyres a little bit better than the cars around us, and, on an afternoon where every little bit helped, we made the most of that.
