Within the closing laps of the Melbourne race, Alonso was left battling Russell for sixth place.
Fearing how susceptible he can be by way of Albert Park’s DRS zones, Alonso claimed he tried to brake earlier for Flip 6 on the penultimate lap so he might carry extra velocity onto the next straight.
Mercedes man Russell was caught out by his manoeuvre and crashed off within the Aston Martin‘s soiled air, with the stewards investigating any erratic driving by the two-time F1 world champion.
After contemplating the proof and a proof from Alonso, the Spaniard was handed a drive-through for “doubtlessly harmful” driving, which was transformed right into a 20-second penalty post-race.
The penalty dropped him from sixth to eighth within the ultimate outcomes and promoted team-mate Lance Stroll to sixth and RB’s Yuki Tsunoda to seventh.
Telemetry confirmed that Alonso had lifted 100 metres sooner than common and tapped the brakes. The stewards deemed that he slowed right down to an “extraordinary” extent, greater than cheap to optimise his nook exit.
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin AMR24, Valtteri Bottas, Kick Sauber C44, Kevin Magnussen, Haas VF-24
Photograph by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Photographs
Alonso mentioned he was dissatisfied by the decision as a result of he did not really feel he did something harmful in any respect.
“George caught me shortly, I knew that he was coming,” Alonso gave his view after being demoted to eighth.
“Then he was in DRS vary for 5 or 6 laps, so I used to be simply doing qualifying laps to remain forward.
“I wished to maximise my exit velocity from Flip 6 to defend towards him. That is what any racing driver would do, and I did not really feel it was harmful.
“It is disappointing to get a penalty from the stewards for what was exhausting however honest racing. Nonetheless, I am glad that George is okay. It was not good to see his automotive in the course of the observe.”
Later, Alonso doubled down on his views on social media.
“A bit shocked by a penalty on the finish of the race concerning how we should always strategy the corners or how we should always drive the race vehicles,” he wrote.
“At no level can we need to do something unsuitable at these speeds. I consider that with out gravel on that nook, on every other nook on the planet, we’ll by no means be even investigated.
“In F1, with over 20 years of expertise, with epic duels like Imola 2005/2006/ Brazil 2023, altering racing traces, sacrificing entry velocity to have good exits from corners is a part of the artwork of motorsport.
“We by no means drive at 100% each race lap and each nook, we save gasoline, tires, brakes, so being answerable for not making each lap the identical is a bit shocking.”
Staff boss Mike Krack mentioned he was equally shocked by the stewards’ verdict, however Aston Martin would not enchantment the choice.
“It was shocking to see him drop to P8 with the post-race penalty, however we have now to just accept the choice,” he commented.
“This won’t distract from a optimistic day. We now have scored 12 championship factors.
“Full credit score to each drivers, who transformed our grid positions into factors, making use of two very completely different tyre methods.”
Staff-mate Lance Stroll was one of many beneficiaries of Alonso’s penalty, shifting the Canadian as much as sixth.
