In the closing laps of the Melbourne race, Alonso was left fighting Russell for 6th location.
Fearing how susceptible he would be through Albert Park’s DRS zones, Alonso declared he attempted to brake earlier for Turn 6 on the penultimate lap so he might bring more speed onto the following directly.
Mercedes guy Russell was captured out by his manoeuvre and crashed off in the Aston Martin‘s filthy air, with the stewards examining any irregular driving by the two-time F1 world champ.
After thinking about the proof and a description from Alonso, the Spaniard was handed a drive-through for “possibly unsafe” driving, which was transformed into a 20-second charge post-race.
The charge dropped him from 6th to 8th in the outcomes and promoted team-mate Lance Stroll to 6th and RB’s Yuki Tsunoda to seventh.
Telemetry revealed that Alonso had actually raised 100 metres earlier than typical and tapped the brakes. The stewards considered that he decreased to an “remarkable” level, more than affordable to optimise his corner exit.
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin AMR24, Valtteri Bottas, Kick Sauber C44, Kevin Magnussen, Haas VF-24
Image by: Sam Bagnall/ Motorsport Images
Alonso stated he was dissatisfied by the decision since he didn’t feel he did anything unsafe at all.
“George captured me rapidly, I understood that he was coming,” Alonso offered his view after being benched to 8th.
“Then he remained in DRS variety for 5 or 6 laps, so I was simply doing certifying laps to remain ahead.
“I wished to increase my exit speed from Turn 6 to prevent him. That’s what any racing motorist would do, and I didn’t feel it threatened.
“It’s frustrating to get a charge from the stewards for what was tough however reasonable racing. Still, I’m grateful that George is alright. It was not good to see his automobile in the middle of the track.”
Later on, Alonso doubled down on his views on social m