Understand Alonso’s punishment after Russell’s accident at the Australian GP

Fernando Alonso received a post-race penalty equivalent to a drive-through, converted into 20 seconds added to his final time, for what the stewards judged to be “potentially dangerous driving” before George Russell’s accident on the final lap of the Australian Grand Prix . There was no contact between the two, so what’s the story behind this penalty? Let’s go into detail to understand better…

In the final straight of the 58-lap Australian Grand Prix, Russell made a late pit stop on lap 46 to fit a new set of tires. This allowed him to start closing the gap on Alonso ahead of him in P6.

The Mercedes continued to close the gap over the next few laps and, having DRS as the race entered lap 54, he was able to close even closer but could not find a way to pass Alonso.

On lap 57, Russell was just half a second behind Alonso as they approached turn 6. As he approached the apparently slower Aston Martin, Russell lost control of the car and hit the barriers, ending up with his damaged W15 on the racing line. .

After the race, it was confirmed that Russell and Alonso had been summoned by the stewards to discuss the incident, with Alonso subsequently receiving the aforementioned time penalty in addition to three penalty points.

At 19:48 local time, the stewards issued their verdict after listening to the drivers and their team representatives, as well as extensively reviewing the situation that occurred before the accident.

Citing a violation of Article 33.4 of the Sporting Regulations as the reason for the infraction, the stewards explained that Alonso had stated that he “intended to approach Turn 6 differently, reducing speed earlier and with less speed into the corner, to obtain a better exit.” .

However, Russell said that “from his perspective, Alonso’s maneuver was erratic, took him by surprise and caused him to approach unusually quickly, and with the resulting lower downforce at the apex of the corner, he lost the control and crashed at the exit of the curve.”

The stewards continued to state that telemetry showed that Alonso reduced his speed “a little more than 100 meters earlier than he had ever done at that corner during the race”, as well as braking “very lightly at a point where he would not normally brake (although the amount of braking was so light that it was not the main reason for the car to slow down)” before downshifting at a different point than usual.

He then accelerated again and accelerated to the bend before slowing down again to make the turn. Alonso explained that his plan was to slow down earlier, but that he had miscalculated and “had to take extra measures to regain speed”, but the stewards said that this maneuver had “created considerable and unusual closing speed between the cars”. .

The stewards concluded that they did not have “sufficient information to determine whether Alonso’s maneuver was intentional to cause problems for Russell, or whether, as he stated to the stewards, he was simply trying to get a better exit” but that, “regardless of the intention” , he had driven in a manner that was “potentially dangerous” given the high speed at that point on the track.

In issuing Alonso’s penalty, the stewards referenced that the penalty guidelines – including for this offense – had been redefined and increased to a 10-second penalty base, while a drive through could be considered in “some aggravating circumstances”.

“In this case, we consider that Alonso affirmatively choosing to perform an unusual maneuver at this point is an aggravating circumstance, as opposed to a simple error,” they added, resulting in a drive through penalty being awarded, which was then converted to 20 seconds added to the time. by Alonso.

Alonso had crossed the finish line in P6, so the addition of 20 seconds moved him up the order to P8. This promotes his teammate Lance Stroll to P6 and Yuki Tsunoda to P7.

The change in classification also sees Aston Martin move one point behind Mercedes in the constructors’ standings, with the Silver Arrows in fourth place ahead of Aston in fifth.

As indicated by the stewards, competitors have the right to appeal “certain decisions” and “within applicable time limits”.

This means that Aston Martin has the right to appeal if it submits it within the given deadline. To be successful in appealing, a team often needs to present new and significant evidence that was previously unavailable to the commissioners.

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