The Alonso-Russell case
The episode that sparked the most controversy of all Australian Grand Prix took shape during the penultimate lap, during which the violent impact against the barriers occurred George Russell. The Englishman, busy with Fernando Alonso in the fight for sixth position, he lost control of his Mercedes after an early braking by the Spaniard approaching turn 6.
The penalty and Alonso's protest
A maneuver that pushed the Race Direction to sanction the Aston Martin Spaniard with one 20 second penalty, decisive for the relegation to the eighth final place. However, in the hours following the decision, the 42-year-old expressed his disappointment on his social profiles: “We were a bit surprised by the penalty at the end of the race, which was about how we should approach the corners or drive the car. At no point do any of us want to do anything wrong at these speeds.”had written.
In the same post, the two-time world champion had also recalled other battles in which he was the protagonist in the past, which ended without penalties and which he himself considered an art of defence: “In F1, having over 20 years of experience and having had epic duels like Imola 2005/2006/Brazil 2023, changing racing lines, sacrificing entry speed to have good exits from corners is part of the art of motorsport. We never drive at 100% on every lap of the race and on every corner: we save fuel, tyres, brakes, so to be judged responsible for not making every lap the same as the other is a bit surprising.”
Damon Hill's opinion
A thought that another world champion fully agrees with Damon Hillwinner of the world title in 1996. Analyzing the incident and Alonso's words, the Briton indirectly took the Spaniard's defense: “George was surprised, it seemed to me that he was very surprised to find Fernando's closing speed so high – he explained to the F1 Nation podcast – or he got too close, pushed too hard and had understeer because he was under the rear gearbox. I believe that here we enter the difficult field of racing and diabolical tricks. I think you have to assume that the FIA wants to stop people from doing potentially dangerous things, but then it's dangerous! Car racing is dangerous. You have to be careful when you try to make a move on someone, if you get close to him you have to be ready to do things that are magic tricks. I think this should be part of sport: to distrust an individual because he is fit, he is intelligent or something else. I just think the idea that you have to prevent drivers from doing something unexpected, not really racing “.
#Hill #defends #Alonso #Preventing #drivers #unexpected #racing #FormulaPassion.it
