British Formula 4 title contenders Maloney and Alvarez blame each other for race-ending collision
Sebastian Alvarez accused his British Formula 4 title rival Zane Maloney of pushing him off the road after the pair sensationally collided at Silverstone last weekend.
The duo entered Silverstone’s third race of three level on points at the table top, after Alvarez had made up a 15-point deficit to Maloney over the first two races.
In the final race held in damp conditions Alvarez sought to pass Maloney for second place on the outside of Brooklands.
He was offered little space by Maloney on the corner’s exit and lost control on the slippery kerb then hit the side of Maloney at Luffield, putting both cars into the gravel and out of the race.
“I tried overtaking him round the outside – I clearly was quicker, I think he knew that I was quicker – then he just tried running me off the road,” Alvarez said. “Then once he successfully ran me out of the road I was on the paint, I lost control of the car and I went straight into him at the next corner.”
When asked if Maloney could have left room, Alvarez said: “Yeah definitely, I’ve been doing the same move on a lot of people this weekend and all of them have left me room and nothing has happened.”
Maloney was more coy about the incident, but hinted that he felt the fault was with Alvarez.
“I was trying to save the tyres for the end of the race,” Maloney said. “He [Alvarez] tried to go on the outside, I defended the position well I think and he ended up off-track, through the grass and into the side of me.
“Hopefully we have some fair racing [at Brands Hatch’s final round]. I hope the championship is interesting and the fans love the racing that goes down but I don’t know if it was like that today.”
The pair therefore head to the season-closing Brands tripleheader still level on points, with Maloney ahead on countback.