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'Young Drivers Need To Learn to Respect The Rules'

Spanish Ferrari driver and current Championship leader Fernando Alonso says that in order to avoid a repeat of the heavy crash at the start of the race at Spa, young drivers need to learn to respect the rules from an early age.

The Spaniard, McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton and Sauber driver Sergio Perez were taken out of Sunday's race in Belgium by Lotus driver Romain Grosjean.

After the lights went out, Grosjean moved to his right, leaving no space for Hamilton to pass, which caused a knock-on effect in which Alonso was one the innocent victims.

Although Alonso retired from the race he was lucky to avoid serious injury as Grosjean's Lotus narrowly missed his helmet when it was airborne.

The double World Champion driver has now called on lower formulae to take a harder line on youngsters who breach the rules in order to best prepare them for F1.

"Certain drivers should try and take fewer risks at the start," Alonso said. "It's a bit of a tendency in the junior formulae, but it would be better, if right from the start of their career, they got used to respecting more strictly the rules relating to behaviour on track."

The Spanish Ferrari driver went into the Belgian Grand Prix with a 40-point lead over Australian Red Bull driver Mark Webber in the Drivers Championship which is now down to just 24 points.

"What happened is a shame because I think a podium was within my reach," the Spaniard said. "But we paid a high price through bad luck and luck owes us now. Let's see what happens in the rest of the season.
"We lost a bit of the advantage we had over Vettel, Mark Webber and Kimi Raikkonen, but we have lost nothing to Hamilton who, given how the McLaren went, is possibly our most dangerous rival. Now we go to Monza, Ferrari's home race. Traditionally we are always strong there so let's hope we can have a nice weekend and give our fans something to cheer about, making up for some of the advantage we lost."

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2026 F1 Championship Standings (as of March 29)

PDriverTeamPoints
1Andrea AntonelliMercedes72
2George RussellMercedes63
3Charles LeclercFerrari49
4Lewis HamiltonFerrari41
5Lando NorrisMcLaren25
6Oscar PiastriMcLaren21
7Oliver BearmanHaas17
8Pierre GaslyAlpine15
9Max VerstappenRed Bull12
10Liam LawsonRacing Bulls10
11Arvid LindbladRacing Bulls4
12Isack HadjarRed Bull4
13Carlos SainzWilliams2
14Gabriel BortoletoAudi2
15Franco ColapintoAlpine1
16Esteban OconHaas1
17Valtteri BottasCadillac0
18Nico HülkenbergAudi0
19Sergio PerezCadillac0
20Fernando AlonsoAston Martin0
21Lance StrollAston Martin0
22Alexander AlbonWilliams0
PTeamPoints
1Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team135
         Poles: 3       Sprint wins: 1       GP wins: 3
2Scuderia Ferrari HP90
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
3McLaren Mastercard F1 Team46
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
4TGR Haas F1 Team18
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
5BWT Alpine F1 Team16
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
6Oracle Red Bull Racing16
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
7Visa Cash App Racing Bulls14
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
8Audi Revolut F1 Team2
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
9Atlassian Williams F1 Team2
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
10Cadillac F1 Team0
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
11Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team0
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0

2026 MotoGP Championship Standings (as of April 26)

PRiderTeamPoints
1Marco BezzecchiAprilia Racing101
2Jorge MartinAprilia Racing90
3Fabio Di GiannantonioPertamina Enduro VR4671
4Pedro AcostaRed Bull KTM66
5Marc MarquezDucati Lenovo57
6Raul FernandezTrackhouse Racing54
7Alex MarquezGresini Racing53
8Ai OguraTrackhouse Racing48
9Francesco BagnaiaDucati Lenovo34
10Enea BastianiniKTM Tech330
11Brad BinderRed Bull KTM28
12Luca MariniHonda HRC Castrol27
13Franco MorbidelliPertamina Enduro VR4625
14Johann ZarcoCastrol Honda LCR24
15Fermin AldeguerGresini Racing20
16Fabio QuartararoMonster Energy Yamaha11
17Diogo MoreiraPro Honda LCR9
18Joan MirHonda HRC Castrol4
19Alex RinsMonster Energy Yamaha3
20Toprak RazgatlıoğluPramac Racing1
21Maverick ViñalesKTM Tech30
22Jack MillerPramac Racing0
23Michele PirroGresini Racing0
24Augusto FernandezYamaha Factory Racing0
25Lorenzo SavadoriAprilia Racing0
PTeamPoints
1Aprilia Racing191
         Poles: 1       Sprint wins: 1       GP wins: 3
2Trackhouse MotoGP Team102
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
3Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team96
         Poles: 2       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
4Red Bull KTM Factory Racing94
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 1       GP wins: 0
5Ducati Lenovo Team91
         Poles: 1       Sprint wins: 2       GP wins: 0
6BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP73
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 1
7Honda LCR MotoGP33
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
8Honda HRC Castrol31
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
9Red Bull KTM Tech330
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
10Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP14
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
11Prima Pramac Racing1
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0