Formula 1: Kimi Raikkonen stripped of his Imola points

A penalty given to Kimi Raikkonen after Sunday’s Formula 1 race at Imola stripped of him of what would have been his first points of the 2021 season.

An impressive performance from Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen in the second race of the record-breaking 23-race 2021 Formula 1 season at Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari saw him cross the finish line in ninth place and score two points for the struggling Swiss team.

However, those points did not last.

After the race, stewards determined that the 2007 world champion breached regulations by failing to enter the pit lane for the restart after the red flag caused by the crash involving Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas and Williams’ George Russell.

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Raikkonen spun his car at turn three of the 21-turn, 3.05-mile (4.908-kilometer) road course in Imola, Emilia-Romagna, Italy on the lap before the restart. He dropped from seventh place back to 10th and was supposed to retake his position prior to the first safety car line.

But because he did not do so under red flag conditions and only advanced back to eighth place, he needed to drive through the pit lane. Because he did not do that, he was issued a 30-second time penalty after the race, demoting him from ninth place to 13th. Instead of scoring two points for a team not expected to score much this year, he ended up with nothing, and so did the team.

While Raikkonen and Alfa Romeo were the big losers here, Alpine, specifically Fernando Alonso, were the beneficiaries.

Alpine teammates Esteban Ocon and Alonso originally finished the race in 10th and 11th place, respectively. Because of Raikkonen’s penalty, which dropped him back to 13th in the order, Ocon was promoted to ninth and Alonso was promoted to 10th.

In the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix at Bahrain International Circuit, Alpine did not score any points. Now instead of scoring just one point at Imola, Ocon scored two, and instead of being scoreless for the eighth consecutive race going back to his final season with McLaren in 2018, Alonso scored his first point of the year.

Alonso last scored a point with his seventh place finish in the 2018 Singapore Grand Prix at Marina Bay Street Circuit. He retired from the sport after the 2018 season but returned in 2021 as the replacement for the McLaren-bound Daniel Ricciardo.

So while Alfa Romeo, which many believed would struggle to score points at all this season given their lack of development of the C41 and their early focus on the 2022 car, ultimately lost the two points that would have shot them up to seventh place in the constructor standings, Alpine saw their point total triple, and now they set in seventh instead.

With Raikkonen having been bumped down to 13th place, Red Bull’s Sergio Perez and AlphaTauri rookie Yuki Tsunoda were also promoted by one spot. Perez was promoted from 12th to 11th while Tsunoda was promoted from 13th to 12th. Antonio Giovinazzi, Raikkonen’s teammate, stayed in 14th.

As a result of this penalty, Raikkonen remained scoreless so far this season. Instead of being in an 11th place tie in the driver standings with Tsunoda, he is tied for last with six other drivers. Ocon is now tied with Tsunoda ahead of Alonso in 13th. Likewise, Alfa Romeo remained scoreless, along with Williams and Haas.

When, if at all, will Raikkonen and Alfa Romeo score their first official points of the 2021 Formula 1 season? The next race on the schedule is the Portuguese Grand Prix, which is set to be broadcast live on ESPN from Algarve International Circuit (Portimao) beginning at 10:00 a.m. ET on Sunday, May 2.