Fernando Alonso has been summoned to the stewards over his potential involvement in George Russell’s crash on the penultimate lap of the race.
Russell was unhurt after hitting the wall at turn six while he was chasing the Aston Martin driver. Although the pair made no contact, the stewards announced an investigation into an “alleged incident” between them.
Onboard footage from Alonso’s car indicates he slowed more than usual on the approach to the corner, which is followed by a pair of DRS zones. RaceFans understands data from Alonso’s car shows he braked on two separate occasions approaching the turn and his speed before the entry of the corner was more around 35 kph slower than on his previous lap.
The Mercedes driver said Alonso slowed dramatically before the corner. “I was half second behind Fernando 100 metres before the corner and suddenly he came towards me extremely quick, I was right in his gearbox,” Russell told Sky after the race. “I don’t know if he’s got a problem or not.
“We’re off to stewards, so that’s a bit bizarre in a circumstance like this.”
Alonso said he was coping with a problem in his car at the end of the race. “Obviously I was focusing in front of me and not behind,” he told Sky.
“I had some issues for the last 15 laps, something on the battery on the deployment. So definitely I was struggling a little bit at the end of the race. But I cannot focus on the cars behind.”
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“I knew that he was coming and he was in the DRS distance for already five or six laps,” he added. “So it was very close. I was just doing qualifying laps and trying to maximise the pace.”
Russell said he would not accuse Alonso of brake-testing him until he had seen more data from the incident. However in the Mercedes driver’s view “it’s clear that he braked 100 metres before the corner and then went back on the throttle again and took the corner normally.
“We’ve already seen the data of that. I’m not going to accuse him of anything until we’ve seen further.
“I was right behind him for many, many laps, I was half a second behind him approaching the corner and then suddenly he slowed up very dramatically and got back on the power. I just wasn’t expecting it and it caught me by surprise. That part’s on me but it’s interesting that we’ve been called to the stewards. I’m intrigued to see what they have to say.”
Russell’s team mate Lewis Hamilton accused…
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