AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX: Alonso hit with penalty for erratic driving, drops to eighth place
March 25, 2024
Former World Champion Fernando Alonso’s strong showing in the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday was slightly marred after he received a post-race penalty of 20 seconds that saw his final place amended from sixth to eighth.
The penalty comes after he was found to have driven erratically and to have been partly to blame for the crash that saw George Russell exit the race with just a couple of laps left to go.
The report from the stewards read: “Alonso braked very slightly at a point that he did not usually brake (although the amount of brake was so slight that it was not the main reason for his car slowing) and he downshifted at a point he never usually downshifted.
“He then upshifted again and accelerated to the corner before lifting again to make the corner. Alonso explained that while his plan was to slow earlier, he got it slightly wrong and had to take extra steps to get back up to speed.
“Nonetheless, this manoeuvre created a considerable and unusual closing speed between the cars.
“The stewards considered that they do not have sufficient information to determine whether Alonso’s manoeuvre was intended to cause Russell problems, or whether as he stated to the stewards that he simply was trying to get a better exit.
“Should Alonso have the right to try a different approach to the corner? Yes. Should Alonso be responsible for dirty air, that ultimately caused the incident? No.
“However, did he choose to do something, with whatever intent, that was extraordinary, ie lifting, braking, downshifting and all the other elements of the manoeuvre over 100m earlier than previously, and much greater than was needed to simply slow earlier for the corner?
“Yes, by his own account of the incident he did, and in the opinion of the stewards by doing these things, he drove in a manner that was at very least ‘potentially dangerous’ given the very high speed nature of that point of the track.”
Commenting on the accident Mercedes driver Russell said: “It caught me by surprise. I was half a second behind him and next thing he slams on the brakes, accelerates again and then slams on the brakes again.
“I was half a second behind and then next thing I was on his gearbox, lost the rear, caught it and then clipped the wall. It was a much more dramatic crash than it should have been.
“I’m OK. It was not a pleasant place to be in the middle of a high-speed corner on the racing line with the VSC [virtual safety car] taking 10-15 seconds to come out.
“It doesn’t sound like a lot, but you can have three cars coming around the corner in 10 seconds and when you’re doing 250km/h and a car in the middle of the road, I was really quite worried.”
Meanwhile, Alonso admitted that while he had “got it slightly wrong” in approaching the corner, that he was still surprised by the severity of the penalty. “A bit surprised by a penalty at the end of the race regarding how we should approach the corners or how we should drive the race cars. At no point do we want to do anything wrong at these speeds?
“I believe that without gravel on that corner, on any other corner in the world we will never be even investigated. In F1, with over 20 years of experience, with epic duels like Imola 2005/2006/Brazil 2023, changing racing lines, sacrificing entry speed to have good exits from corners is part of the art of motorsport.
“We never drive at 100% every race lap and every corner, we save fuel, tyres, brakes, so being responsible for not making every lap the same is a bit surprising,” he said.
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AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX: Alonso hit with penalty for erratic driving, drops to eighth place
Former World Champion Fernando Alonso’s strong showing in the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday was slightly marred after he received a post-race penalty of 20 seconds that saw his final place amended from sixth to eighth.
The penalty comes after he was found to have driven erratically and to have been partly to blame for the crash that saw George Russell exit the race with just a couple of laps left to go.
The report from the stewards read: “Alonso braked very slightly at a point that he did not usually brake (although the amount of brake was so slight that it was not the main reason for his car slowing) and he downshifted at a point he never usually downshifted.
“He then upshifted again and accelerated to the corner before lifting again to make the corner. Alonso explained that while his plan was to slow earlier, he got it slightly wrong and had to take extra steps to get back up to speed.
“Nonetheless, this manoeuvre created a considerable and unusual closing speed between the cars.
“The stewards considered that they do not have sufficient information to determine whether Alonso’s manoeuvre was intended to cause Russell problems, or whether as he stated to the stewards that he simply was trying to get a better exit.
“Should Alonso have the right to try a different approach to the corner? Yes. Should Alonso be responsible for dirty air, that ultimately caused the incident? No.
“However, did he choose to do something, with whatever intent, that was extraordinary, ie lifting, braking, downshifting and all the other elements of the manoeuvre over 100m earlier than previously, and much greater than was needed to simply slow earlier for the corner?
“Yes, by his own account of the incident he did, and in the opinion of the stewards by doing these things, he drove in a manner that was at very least ‘potentially dangerous’ given the very high speed nature of that point of the track.”
Commenting on the accident Mercedes driver Russell said: “It caught me by surprise. I was half a second behind him and next thing he slams on the brakes, accelerates again and then slams on the brakes again.
“I was half a second behind and then next thing I was on his gearbox, lost the rear, caught it and then clipped the wall. It was a much more dramatic crash than it should have been.
“I’m OK. It was not a pleasant place to be in the middle of a high-speed corner on the racing line with the VSC [virtual safety car] taking 10-15 seconds to come out.
“It doesn’t sound like a lot, but you can have three cars coming around the corner in 10 seconds and when you’re doing 250km/h and a car in the middle of the road, I was really quite worried.”
Meanwhile, Alonso admitted that while he had “got it slightly wrong” in approaching the corner, that he was still surprised by the severity of the penalty. “A bit surprised by a penalty at the end of the race regarding how we should approach the corners or how we should drive the race cars. At no point do we want to do anything wrong at these speeds?
“I believe that without gravel on that corner, on any other corner in the world we will never be even investigated. In F1, with over 20 years of experience, with epic duels like Imola 2005/2006/Brazil 2023, changing racing lines, sacrificing entry speed to have good exits from corners is part of the art of motorsport.
“We never drive at 100% every race lap and every corner, we save fuel, tyres, brakes, so being responsible for not making every lap the same is a bit surprising,” he said.