Sydney, Australia – Following what the Australian Grand Prix stewards called a “unusual manoeuvre” that resulted in George Russell’s spectacular collision on the final lap, Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin has been issued a 20-second penalty.
Alonso’s ranking lowers from sixth to eighth due to the punishment.
Russell was pursuing Alonso for position when he crashed through Turn Six. The incident was reported to the stewards since Alonso looked to drastically lose speed on entry, and Russell was trailing him by less than half a second. Following a review of
Article 33.4 of the sports regulations was discovered to have been broken by Alonso on Sunday night. It reads as follows: “A car may never be driven excessively slowly, erratically, or in a way that could be judged potentially dangerous to other drivers or any other person,
In their ruling, the stewards concluded that Alonso had lifted slightly more than 100 meters earlier than he had ever done before entering that corner during the race. He also downshifted at a point when he had never downshifted before and braked very slightly at a point when he normally did not brake (though the amount of brake was so slight that it was not the main reason for his car’s slowing)
Subsequently, he made another upshift, accelerated towards the bend, and then lifted once more to turn. Although Alonso had intended to slow down earlier, he made a small mistake and had to take extra steps to catch up. Despite this, the action caused the cars to close the gap significantly and unusually quickly,
Alonso received a drive-through penalty, but because the race was already over, that added 20 seconds to his finishing time.
The two-time world champion was now behind Yuki Tsunoda of RB and Lance Stroll of Aston Martin, even if the other points-paying spots remained the same.
Additionally, Alonso’s superlicence was enhanced by three points.
In their verdict, the stewards went into further depth about the ruling, and they even included a section where they answered questions to clarify some of the most intricate points.
“Specifically, in this case, the stewards have not considered the consequences of the crash,” they stated. “In addition, the stewards believed that there was insufficient information to decide if Alonso’s maneuver was meant to trouble Russell or if, as he told them, he was only attempting to find a better way out.
“Should Alonso have the right to try a different approach to the corner? — yes, “Should Alonso be responsible for dirty air, that ultimately caused the incident? — no.
However, did he choose to do something, with whatever intent, that was extraordinary, i.e. lifting, braking, downshifting and all the other elements of the manoeuvre over 100m earlier than previously, and much greater than was needed to simply slow earlier for the corner? — yes. By his own account of the incident he did, and in the opinion of the stewards by doing these things, he drove in a manner that was at very least “potentially dangerous” given the very high speed nature of that point of the track.”
Aston Martin has the right to appeal the verdict.