F1 DRIVERS DIVIDED OVER ALONSO PENALTY: WHO’S ON WHICH SIDE?
Fernando Alonso’s 20-second penalty for driving in a “potentially dangerous” manner in the Australian Grand Prix was a big talking point in the Suzuka paddock on Thursday ahead of the Japanese GP, with opinion on whether it was justified split among rivals.
While the majority felt the penalty was, as Valtteri Bottas put it, “a bit harsh”, or in the words of Alonso’s Aston Martin team-mate Lance Stroll, “ridiculous”, there were several with strong contrary opinions. Charles Leclerc was among them, arguing that “what Fernando did in Australia was too much”.
Inevitably, George Russell – on the receiving end of Alonso’s actions – was in the latter camp. He took a strong, but measured, position on the penalty being justified while being at pains to stress that “it’s nothing personal”. He even joked about running into Alonso in a coffee shop between races, offering a light-hearted complaint about Alonso not paying for his drink. But he was also resolute in making the case that the penalty was deserved.
“It was obviously a bit of a strange situation,” said Russell. “[I was] totally caught by surprise. I was looking at the steering wheel making a switch change in the straight, and when I looked up, I was in Fernando’s gearbox and it was too late. Then the next thing I know, I’m in the wall.
“If it were not to have been penalised, it would have really opened a can of worms for the rest of the season and in junior categories of saying, ‘You’re allowed to brake in a straight, are you allowed to slow down, change gear, accelerate, do something semi-erratic?’
“I don’t take anything personally with what happened with Fernando and it probably had bigger consequences than it should have. But if it went unpenalised, can you [therefore] just brake in the middle of a straight?
I don’t know.”While the majority felt the penalty was, as Valtteri Bottas put it, “a bit harsh”, or in the words of Alonso’s Aston Martin team-mate Lance Stroll, “ridiculous”, there were several with strong contrary opinions. Charles Leclerc was among them, arguing that “what Fernando did in Australia was too much”.
Inevitably, George Russell – on the receiving end of Alonso’s actions – was in the latter camp. He took a strong, but measured, position on the penalty being justified while being at pains to stress that “it’s nothing personal”. He even joked about running into Alonso in a coffee shop between races, offering a light-hearted complaint about Alonso not paying for his drink. But he was also resolute in making the case that the penalty was deserve
It’s always tougher being in the situation so that’s why I don’t like commenting on it. But that kind of thing shouldn’t have been a penalty. It’s clear, he’s in front. Max and Hamilton [in Saudi Arabia 2021], that’s a brake test. This was not a brake test. This was trying to play very smart – Fernando being Fernando and [Russell] being caught out by it.
“It was not aggressive, it was not one metre in front of a car and stopping. It was 100 metres ahead and slow down and the approaching speed caught George off. But nowhere near a penalty.”
Norris’s McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri questioned the logical of “giving someone a penalty for causing dirty air” and admitted to being “a bit surprised by the penalty”. Stroll took a similar position, defending his team-mate and questioning giving a penalty when there is no contact.
“I don’t think he did anything stupid,” said Stroll of Alonso. “He was just preparing the exit of the corner and it was ridiculous to get a drivethrough penalty for an incident that doesn’t even involve any contact between the cars or anything like that. I didn’t really understand it.”
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However, Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg criticised Alonso’s driving. While he accepts the principle that drivers defending can and do change their approach to corners, he felt Turn 6 in Melbourne was not the right place to take the approach Alonso did.
“I wasn’t very impressed with Fernando’s tactics there,” said Hulkenberg. “Melbourne is kind off a street circuit, it’s quite narrow there, we approach that corner with 260-270km/h [161-168mph], it’s a blind exit and if, for whatever reason, the flag system or someone is late and one of us would have T-boned George.So while that tactic is quite a common one in Formula 1, in that particular corner, with that speed, with a blind exit, I think it’s the wrong corner to do it and produced quite a dangerous situation.”
Hulkenberg also questioned Alonso’s communication over the radio complaining of a throttle problem, which was not mentioned publicly again and that was also not referenced in the stewards’ decision. The inference we can draw from that is that Hulkenberg suspects it was subterfuge to cover up Alonso making a misjudgment and going too far in his defensive strategy.
“What I also don’t understand is right after, on the radio, he’s talking about throttle issues, throttle stuck, or not stuck,” said Hulkenberg. “But then later on, he doesn’t talk about that anymore, he just talks about that is standard procedure and tactics. So that doesn’t align and seems to have changed his opinion there. But basically, I wasn’t very impressed with that, personally.”
Leclerc shared Hulkenberg’s view that Alonso overstepped the mark in this case. He also questioned whether the penalty was too mild given the 20-second addition, given in lieu of a drivethrough penalty, only cost Alonso two positions.
So while that tactic is quite a common one in Formula 1, in that particular corner, with that speed, with a blind exit, I think it’s the wrong corner to do it and produced quite a dangerous situation.”
Hulkenberg also questioned Alonso’s communication over the radio complaining of a throttle problem, which was not mentioned publicly again and that was also not referenced in the stewards’ decision. The inference we can draw from that is that Hulkenberg suspects it was subterfuge to cover up Alonso making a misjudgment and going too far in his defensive strategy.
“What I also don’t understand is right after, on the radio, he’s talking about throttle issues, throttle stuck, or not stuck,” said Hulkenberg. “But then later on, he doesn’t talk about that anymore, he just talks about that is standard procedure and tactics. So that doesn’t align and seems to have changed his opinion there. But basically, I wasn’t very impressed with that, personally.”
Leclerc shared Hulkenberg’s view that Alonso overstepped the mark in this case. He also questioned whether the penalty was too mild given the 20-second addition, given in lieu of a drivethrough penalty, only cost Alonso two positions.
