PERSPECTIVE: Alonso’s ‘24 AUS GP Penalty

Fernando Alonso was given a 20-second time penalty which was added to his race time as well as 3 penalty points following George Russell’s crash at turn 6 on the penultimate lap of the Australian Grand Prix. The stewards’ decision to hand out these penalties has been a hot topic of discussion among Formula 1 fans and media outlets, each with their own reasoning on why or why not Alonso deserved the penalties he was awarded. Since everyone else has had their say on the matter, it's  my turn now! 

The 2-time World Champion is F1’s most experienced driver with 383 entries in the sport (at the time of writing) and during his tenure at the pinnacle of motorsport, Alonso has repeatedly shown the world that he is just as hungry to fight and win. Russell is a highly talented driver who has shown his immense potential even during his seemingly endless stint at Williams. Now at the Mercedes works team, he deserves recognition for holding his own against a 7-time world champion at the other side of the garage. 

Fernando & George in Bahrain

(via The Independent)

What makes the Turn 6 incident interesting is the lack of contact between cars #14 and #63. Watching the footage for the first time it appears that Russell goes into T6 with an extremely high entry speed before losing control of the car and making contact with the wall after a bumpy ride through the gravel. The contact with the wall ends with car #63 with 2 wheels still attached sitting precariously in the middle of the track at T7. 

#63 loses grip at Turn 6

(via F1 TV)

What the static camera footage doesn’t show, is Alonso’s early deceleration into T6. Clearly visible from the onboard footage, telemetry and later confirmed by the Spaniard himself, Alonso lifted off the throttle around 100m early and downshifted on entry. Alonso states that this was intentional, aiming for a slower entry in order to have a better exit going out of the corner. He also mentions that his plans to have a slower entry went “slightly wrong” and that he had to make corrections to get back to racing speed. 

Alonso slows down on entry at T6

(via F1 TV)

The stewards penalised Alonso citing a breach of Article 33.4 of the FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations which states the following: “At no time may a car be driven unnecessarily slowly, erratically or in a manner which could be deemed potentially dangerous to other drivers or any other person.” The stewards also went on to say that Alonso’s manoeuvre “created a considerable and unusual closing speed between the cars” and that despite Alonso’s intent, he had driven in a manner that was “potentially dangerous”. 

Russell’s AUS GP ended there…

(via F1 TV)

All of what I have presented so far are the facts. This is all information that has been made available to the general public. So what am I really trying to say? 

Formula One’s commitment toward safety and protecting its drivers is something that I truly find commendable. Safety measures like the halo, which was hated by all at first, has gone on to save the lives of so many drivers. However, I think with their reaction to this specific incident, the FIA have sent out the wrong message. Formula One is undisputedly the top flight of motorsport and regardless of what people say, those 20 drivers are extremely highly skilled. These drivers deserve the respect to be held to that standard. 

Alonso approached T6 differently on that lap, a tactical move to gain an advantage at the corner exit. Russell says that he did not expect Alonso to slow down that early and that he slowed much earlier than he did on previous laps. This in itself is the answer to the question “was Alonso’s penalty justified?”. No driver owes it to any of their rivals on track to drive each lap in the exact manner as the previous lap(s). 

The way I see it, Alonso made an adjustment to his pace in order to gain an advantage. Making such an adjustment simply cannot be interpreted as “driving unnecessarily slowly or erratically”, it’s called motor RACING! This change in pace was in turn something that Russell did not expect perhaps that late in the race. This does not justify penalising Alonso for doing something his rival wasn’t expecting. I don’t see anything that the Aston Martin driver could or should have done differently.

Aston Martin has the opportunity to appeal this penalty “within applicable time limits” and I certainly hope that they do because I see this incident as discouraging drivers from driving their cars with the intent to race. For the appeal to be successful, the team must provide new evidence which the stewards did not have access to before. Perhaps this is an opportunity for Aston Martin to provide evidence of the trouble that Alonso had with his throttle pedal, something that he mentioned on the radio during the race.