Fernando Alonso got a post-race time penalty after the Australian GP ended, for potentially “dangerous driving” that demoted him two places in the final result classification. The Spaniard did some strange maneuvers in Turns 6-7 that perhaps caught George Russell out, causing his Mercedes W15 to crash out of the race. The FIA stewards released a detailed statement on why they penalized the Aston Martin driver, citing how his lifting, braking, and downshifting maneuvers that caused his car to slow down abnormally were “extraordinary” in nature. Charles Leclerc agrees with this notion and has called for stricter penalties for similar moves in the future.
According to Motorsport-Total.com, Leclerc said, “It was too much and had to be punished.” The Monegasque driver went even further to suggest that in such cases time penalties don’t have the same effect every time.
“As a driver, you can currently be unlucky if the safety car comes out shortly before the end and you are passed from P5 to P20 in such a scenario. But Fernando only lost two positions [due to the subsequent drive-through penalty]”, he cited.
Leclerc feels that positional penalties can set the standard on a fairer level to penalize all similar incidents. Currently, when the stewards add time penalties to a driver’s overall race time, it may not affect their position too much, if the gaps in the field spread are big.
Regardless, Alonso‘s incident with Russell was very peculiar and caused immense uproar. It is safe to say that all drivers have a split opinion on whether the Spaniard was at fault or not.
Besides the two concerned drivers themselves arguing the for and against sides, many including Leclerc, Lando Norris, Nico Hulkenberg, Oscar Piastri, etc. have given their thoughts on the aftermath of this penalty as well.
Lando Norris argues for Fernando Alonso and asks George Russell to be more careful
While Charles Leclerc agrees that Fernando Alonso drove too aggressively which inadvertently led to George Russell’s crash, Lando Norris is on the Spaniard’s side. The McLaren driver highlighted that Russell should have been more careful.
Norris said, “George had time to see what was happening. He should have seen it coming.” The Briton felt that Alonso’s maneuver was not a “brake test” as such. While he agreed that the two-time champion was “cleverly” trying to do something, Norris feels it wasn’t very “aggressive”.
The #4 driver cited how a racer needs to react to everything that may happen around them. So, it was Russell’s responsibility too, to be more careful and react to Alonso’s maneuver. Norris also feels contrary to the stewards who have penalized and punished Alonso, which doesn’t make sense to him.
The Aston Martin driver hit the same notes as Norris, in a much more aggressive way just after the race ended in Melbourne. Alonso posted a long post on his socials, reacting to the penalty he received, and slammed the stewards by arguing about how his maneuvers from the Australian GP are part of the art of racing.
This was because the stewards claimed that they only penalized Alonso due to his erratic maneuvers and not by considering its effect of Russell crashing out. While it prematurely ended and cost the #63 driver, the Spaniard may not have intended to do so.
Nonetheless, Russell’s crash meant Mercedes suffered its first double DNF in a race for the first time since Austria in 2018. So, as the F1 circus resumes in Japan, it will be interesting to see how Alonso and Russell pick up from where they left off, as even Suzuka is a fast-flowing track that often features several incidents.
