Fernando Alonso has been hit with a 20-second post-race penalty and three points on his super license for ‘potentially dangerous driving’ during the final lap of the Australian Grand Prix.
The Aston Martin driver had been battling Mercedes’ George Russell throughout the final stint and the two cars were within a second of one another heading onto the final lap.
After Russell closed to within half a second of the Aston Martin ahead of him, Alonso braked early on the entry to turn six, catching the Brit off-guard and sending him spinning off into the gravel. His Mercedes hit the outside wall at turn seven, sending him back across the track and upside down.
Discussing the incident after the race, Russell told Sky Sports F1: “It’s clear he braked 100m before the corner and was back on the throttle again and took the corner normally. We’ve already seen the data of that.”
Asked whether or not he was brake tested, he added: “I’m not going to accuse him of anything until we see further. I was right behind him for many, many laps. I was half a second behind him before the corner.”
Alonso’s conduct was duly referred to the stewards and after a lengthy period of review, the decision was made that his ‘potentially dangerous’ driving warranted an extreme punishment.
A report from the FIA explained: “Telemetry shows that Alonso lifted slightly more than 100m earlier than he ever had going into that corner during the race.”
Additionally, the Spaniard “braked very slightly at a point that he did not usually brake” and “downshifted at a point he never usually downshifted,” making it clear that he had changed his driving style on the final lap.
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