Fernando Alonso received a 20-second time penalty in Australia last weekend when his defense against George Russell led to a high speed shunt for the latter. It dropped Alonso from P6 to P8 costing him and Aston Martin valuable points. Former Haas team principal turned F1 pundit Guenther Steiner is surprised about the outcome and wants more clarity surrounding the controversial penalty.
Steiner feels that race control was confused after Russell’s crash as well. Initially, not many people connected Alonso to the incident, but when Russell and Mercedes accused the Aston Martin driver of going too slow, the stewards decided to do something about it.
Steiner said as per Racer.com, “It’s like, ‘I give you the penalty but I’m not sure if you’ve done wrong.’ So I think it needs to be a clearer stance. And it needs to be the same for everyone as well.”
Alonso Russell: The view from onboard #F1 #AusGP pic.twitter.com/1nOxiMEdkD
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 26, 2024
Steiner admitted that he didn’t see enough data to take a solid stance. According to the FIA, Alonso pressed on his brake pedal harder than he normally should have. This was enough for the governing body to declare that he was guilty, and in addition to the time penalty, Alonso also had 2 penalty points added to his Super License.
Steiner also pointed out that in Jeddah, Kevin Magnussen was doing something very similar to hold off Yuki Tsunoda during the closing stages of the race, which allowed his teammate Nico Hulkenberg to finish in the points. This puzzled Steiner further, as he seeks transparency behind what was one of the most bizarre penalties in recent times.
Aftermath of Fernando Alonso’s penalty
Fernando Alonso’s penalty meant Aston Martin lost 4 precious points in the Constructors’ Championship. This is huge given how tight the midfield is but the Silverstone-based outfit decided to accept the penalty, unchallenged.
They opted not to appeal, also because of the lack of new evidence that would allow Aston Martin to request a right to review. However, Alonso did not hold back, and took to his social media accounts to defend himself. With 20 years of experience in F1, Alonso feels that it was unfair for the stewards to accuse him of driving dangerously, especially when all he was doing was trying to prevent the driver behind him from getting an easy pass.
Double points for the team and a better race pace than the rest of the weekend allowed us to cross the finish line in 6th and 7th place. 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… pic.twitter.com/WBdr7MPGFr
— Fernando Alonso (@alo_oficial) March 24, 2024
The penalty following the race in Albert Park was also a huge blow for Aston Martin because they failed to capitalize on Mercedes’ double DNF. Mercedes seem to their main competitor this year, and losing out on points because of factors outside of their control, could hurt them in the long run.
Heading into the Japanese GP weekend, Alonso sits P8 in the Drivers’ Championship standings, whereas Aston Martin sits P5 in the Constructors’ standings. Both lost a place in Melbourne last weekend due to the penalty.
