Alonso gets 20-second post-race penalty after late Russell crash
Fernando Alonso dropped from a sixthplace finish in the Australian Grand Prix to eighth after he was hit with a 20-second post-race penalty for contributing to George Russell’s late accident.
The pair had been in each other’s orbit for much of the race. Alonso had been a big gainer after starting his Aston Martin on the hard tyres and pitting under the virtual safety car activation following Lewis Hamilton’s retirement. Alonso rejoined fifth – he had been running 10th before the VSC, when the frontrunners were yet to pit – and was then passed by Sergio Perez’s Red Bull.
Russell chased, the Mercedes completing a very long middle stint on the hard tyres, while Alonso used the mediums. With a four-lap tyre offset for the final stint and with both on hard rubber, Russell closed from three seconds behind to reach DRS distance with six tours to run.
On the penultimate lap, Alonso lifted off around 100 metres earlier than usual for the fast Turn 6 right, where he’d had a costly off in qualifying. Russell was caught out by losing downforce as he rapidly closed in on the Aston and lost control, spinning off into the gravel, hitting the wall and bouncing back into the track.
The stewards opted to penalise Alonso because, said their statement, “his plan was to slow earlier, he got it slightly wrong”, which explains why GPS data has Alonso changing gear and even accelerating again before he braked fully for the corner. The stewards felt that Alonso “drove in a manner that was at very least ‘potentially dangerous’” and therefore contravened Article 33.4 of F1’s sporting rules. His penalty was essentially a converted drive-through since Alonso’s action was considered
“an aggravating circumstance, as opposed to a simple mistake”.
Alonso later posted on social media that he was “a bit surprised by a penalty… regarding how we should approach the corners or how we should drive the race cars”.