Fernando Alonso sanctioned after George Russell’s accident at the Australian Grand Prix

George Russell made a mistake at the very end of the Australian Grand Prix and found himself in a dangerous position, blocking the track. Fernando Alonso was held responsible by the stewards and received a 20-second penalty added to his time, as well as three penalty points on his license.

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Big scare in the last lap of the Australian Grand Prix: George Russell lost control of his car in turns 6 and 7 and crashed into the safety barriers, bouncing back into the middle of the track, with his car on its side. The British driver shouts: « Red flag, red flag! I’m in the middle of the track! » but the race direction decides to deploy a virtual safety car. All’s well that ends well, and a tough blow for Mercedes, which suffers a double retirement at Albert Park.

George Russell was summoned before the stewards just after the race, along with Fernando Alonso. It’s that on the images just before the accident, we can clearly see the Spaniard, who was in front of the Mercedes driver, braking suddenly and a bit too early. The stewards judged his driving to be dangerous and penalized him with a “Drive Through” penalty converted into a 20-second time penalty, as well as three penalty points on his license. When a driver reaches 12 penalty points on his license, he is suspended for the next race. His ranking in the Australian Grand Prix goes from 6th to 8th place, which benefits his teammate Lance Stroll and Yuki Tsunoda.

Here is what happened in detail, according to the FIA: George Russell was following Fernando Alonso about 0.5 seconds behind as the cars approached turn 6. Alonso explained to the stewards that he intended to approach turn 6 differently, by lifting off the throttle earlier and reducing speed in the corner to achieve a better exit. Russell explained to the stewards that, from his point of view, Alonso’s maneuver was erratic, caught him by surprise, forced him to close the gap unusually quickly, and with less downforce at the apex of the corner, he lost control and hit the wall at the exit of the corner. There was no contact between the cars.

A potentially dangerous maneuver

The telemetry shows that Alonso actually lifted slightly earlier more than 100 meters before than he had ever done in this turn during the race. He also braked very slightly at a point where he generally did not brake and downshifted at a point where he generally did not downshift either. He then downshifted again and accelerated to approach the turn before lifting again to take the turn. Alonso explained that even though his intention was to slow down earlier, he made a slight mistake and had to take additional measures to regain his speed.

Despite the Spanish driver’s defense, the stewards determined that Alonso’s maneuver caused a significant and unusual closing speed between the cars, resulting in Russell’s accident. Although there was no contact between the cars, Alonso’s maneuver was deemed potentially dangerous.

After examining the video evidence and hearing testimonies from the drivers and team representatives, the stewards concluded that Alonso had committed an infringement of Article 33.4 of the FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations,” a statement from the FIA said.

George Russell’s accident not taken into account

Note that to determine this penalty, the stewards did not take into account the consequences in the race, namely George Russell’s accident that could have ended very badly. When examining the issue, the stewards focused solely on the wording of the regulation which states « At no time may a car be driven unnecessarily slowly, erratically” or in a way that could be judged potentially “dangerous” for the other drivers or other persons. » (Art 33.4)

Furthermore, the stewards deemed that they did not have enough information to determine whether Alonso’s move was intended to cause issues for Russell, or if, as he told the stewards, he was simply trying to take a better exit. Is Alonso allowed to attempt a different approach to the corner? Yes, the stewards judged. Should Alonso be held responsible for the dirty air, which ultimately caused the incident? No, they responded.

However, did he choose to do something, with whatever intention, that was extraordinary, that is to say lift off, brake, downshift, and all the other elements of the maneuver more than 100 meters earlier than before, and much more than necessary just to slow down before the turn? Yes, according to his own account of the incident, he did, and in the opinion of the stewards, by doing these things, he drove in a way that was at least “potentially dangerous” given the very fast nature of that point of the track, concludes the FIA statement.

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