Alonso calls Australian GP penalty a ‘one-off I’ve had too many of’ · RaceFans

Fernando Alonso does not agree with his Australian Grand Prix penalty, which he described as a “one-off” decision by the stewards.

The Aston Martin driver was given a post-race drive-through penalty for abruptly slowing in front of George Russell on the penultimate lap of the last race. The Mercedes driver crashed at turn six as a result of Alonso decelerating over 100 metres earlier than usual for the corner.

The stewards called his driving “potentially dangerous” but Alonso said he is “totally against what was the outcome of the decision.”

“They have the power to do and and to decide and we have to accept it,” he told the official F1 channel, “but I’m surprised and totally disagree, for sure.”

Despite his penalty, the stewards said Alonso had “the right to try a different approach to the corner.” Asked whether the ruling set a precedent which will reduce options for defensive driving in the future, Alonso said: “I think it was one-off.

“It will never be repeated the same. I think we will never see a decision like in Australia ever again. So I accept it, I take it.

“I had a few of those, many, too many of those in my career. Hopefully at least no one else is having this kind of outcome, so I take it.”

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Russell believes Alonso pushed the limits of acceptable defensive driving too far by slowing down as much as he did so far before the corner.

“Every driver is open to change their line, brake earlier, power through the corner, do whatever,” he said. “But when we start braking in the middle of a straight, downshifting, accelerating, upshifting again, then braking again for a corner, I think that goes beyond the realms of adjusting your line.”

He said F1 drivers are so busy in their cockpits they should not be expected to anticipate a rival intentionally slowing in front of them.

“I was actually looking at my steering wheel in that straight as I’ve done every single lap prior. And when I looked up 100 metres before the corner, I realised I was right behind Fernando rather than the half a second that I was.

“We’ve got so many duties to take care of when we’re driving: Looking, going around the racetrack, changing all of the settings on the steering wheel, making sure you’re in the right engine mode, taking care of the tyres, talking to your engineer, managing the deltas on your steering wheel when it’s an in-lap, out-lap, Safety Car, whatever it may be. If you…