The Spanish Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin), who had finished sixth, was penalized twenty seconds and loses two places in the Australian Grand Prix, the third of the Formula One World Championship, held this Sunday at the Albert Park circuit in Melbourne and in which finally registers eighth in the final classification.
The stewards consider that the Asturian double world champion (2005 and 2006) made an irregular maneuver in the action that ended with the accident, in the last of the 58 laps of the race and fortunately without major physical consequences, of the Englishman George Russell ( Mercedes).
The reason for the penalty is that “he took his foot off the accelerator 100 meters earlier than usual in the rest of the race”, on that lap 57, the penultimate one, when he was trying to keep his rival behind at the 6-7 chicane.
Alonso’s loss of two places means that both his teammate, the Canadian Lance Stroll, and the Japanese Yuki Tsunoda (RB) gain one. The North American becomes sixth and the Asian, seventh, in the Grand Prix classification.
Fernando Alonso was quick to react and described it as “surprising” to be sanctioned as he was considered “guilty for not doing all the laps the same.”
“Double points for the team and a better race pace than the rest of the weekend allowed us to cross the finish line in sixth and seventh position. A little surprised by a late-race penalty on how we should approach the corners or how we should drive race cars. At no time do we want to do anything wrong at these speeds. I think that without gravel in that corner, in any other corner of the world we will never even be investigated. In F1, with more than 20 years of trajectory, with epic duels like Imola 2005/2006/Brazil 2023, changing routes, sacrificing entry speed to have good corner exits is part of the art of motorsport. We never drive at 100% in each lap of the race and in each corner, “We save fuel, tires, brakes, so being responsible for not doing all the laps the same is a bit surprising. We have to accept it and think about Japan, have more pace and fight for higher positions. Thank you team!” explained the Asturian
The sanction has been controversial because other pilots, such as Magnussen, carried out the same action without any sanction. This sanction is added to another in which the FIA was very rigorous with the Asturian, such as in Monza 2006, Hungary 2007, Valencia 2010, United States 2022 and Saudi Arabia 2023.
It so happens that one of the race marshals was Johnnie Herbert, who had a clash with Fernando Alonso in 2016 when the Briton was a commentator for Sky Sports F1. Herbert suggested that Alonso should “think about retirement,” to which he replied: “I’m a world champion. You ended up as a commentator because you’re not,” he snapped.