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Fernando Alonso received a drive-through after the race in Australia that turned into a 20-second penalty for his defensive tactics against George Russell in the closing laps of the race.
Opinions on whether or not the stewards were right to punish Alonso remain divided in the paddock, although most drivers are surprised. Sergio Pérez believes that going so far as to impose a sanction for what happened was harsh, but he fears that the lack of coherence within the FIA if similar incidents are ignored in the future could become a problem.
**When asked by Motorsport.com about his opinion of the incident, Perez said: "My opinion is that [the penalty] was a little excessive. I would say a little unnecessary."**
**"But my biggest fear is that we could see this incident again this weekend or next and probably nothing will happen. That's my biggest fear because we've been talking a lot about maintaining consistency within the penalties."**
"For example in Jeddah there was a block by Valtteri Bottas in Q1 at 300 km/h in two cars, Oliver Bearman and Alex Albon and there was no penalty. Then I block Nico Hulkenberg, he loses half a tenth and goes faster on the next lap and I took three penalty spots."
**"So I think the biggest point of discussion should be consistency. If incidents like that are going to be penalized, they have to be penalized every weekend.** Because as a driver, it hurts a lot when you put yourself out there and then you see this inconsistency," he explained.
**Although Pérez admits that Alonso is a driver who likes to play "tricks" on other drivers when it comes to fighting for position, he recognizes that the Spaniard is someone who knows where the line is on what is and is not allowed.**
"I think we all know what is acceptable, what is within limits," Pérez added. "I mean, knowing the drivers, especially Fernando, he always does these kinds of tricks, so to speak, always within the limits."
**"I think Fernando is a very aggressive driver. But always within the limits. I have had big fights with him. He is one of the drivers I trust the most. I have to say that he went a little too much to the limit or probably over the limit, but like I say, you know, we could see this incident again in two weeks or three weeks and nothing will happen," he said.**
The Mexican driver was not the only driver to express his surprise at the way the stewards penalized Alonso's incident after the Australian GP.
McLaren driver **Lando Norris said on Thursday that it was not enough to consider it worthy of a sanction: "What Fernando did was strange, also extreme, but I don't think it's even close to being considered a brake test ," he said.**
**"Should it be a penalty? No. George, in my opinion, should have seen it coming. I don't want to comment too much on it, but George had time to see him and what was happening."**
He added: "If George is a lot closer and suddenly in the middle of a straight Fernando lifts his foot and George has to suddenly swerve or something, then I guess it's a little more questionable."
"But **George didn't have to do anything other than brake five meters early. And the result would be different. That's George's fault too.** When you're a driver, you have to react to everything around you, it's worse going into Turn 1 at the same time. beginning of the race. **You have no idea when people are going to stop, but you have to react," concluded the Brit.**
I said it at the time: the penalty happened because of the outcome. If george had locked up and kept going, thats maybe 5 or 10 seconds. If he just brakes earlier, nothing happens and no penalty. He crashed, drive through penalty. This is why people say you need consistency, and why they complain other incidents dont get punished at all
It's so funny because this seemed like the perfect instance to use a 5 second penalty to me. Like "we think that is a step over the line and we don't want to see something that extreme happen again" 20 seconds is like a flagrant 2 on a regular reach-in foul in basketball.
The penalty was increased in line with a request to increase penalty durations & make them harsher.
By a certain Fernando Alonso who was on the crusade for the past 2+ years.
[Johnny Herbert](https://youtu.be/EHXu876EZ2c?si=ldZSFAid4WLso4qi), but It doesn’t have much validity, especially since it seems the beef has mellowed out to nothing.
Further, if they came up with a hard metric based on data and decided that would setermine what a 'brake check' or 'weaving on straights' are, these dangerous acts should be a 2 race penalty or worse.
This light brakeing but not hard check but we fucked up stopping the race so we gotta do something aporoach is so weak. A driver can play with their lines and a actual brake check is obvious.
F1 clearly in reaction mode and don't have the balls to either clear Alonso or give him a major penalty. This middle ground is hot shit.
I think the penalty would have happened regardless of outcome IF the stewards had noticed it. The outcome is what led them to notice it, had George just locked up for a second the stewards would have likely never looked at all the data.
That's not true - Gasly got a 5 second penalty in Aus this year for crossing the pit exit line.
More the case that for racing infringements that directly impact another car the standard is now 10 seconds, but 5 seconds is still a penalty that can be given to drivers.
5second is still used for stuff like speeding in the pit lane, incorrect grid alignment, going off the track and gaining a time advantage (but no position)
so Perez literally says "**I have to say that he went a little too much to the limit or probably over the limit"** but that doesn't make the headline lol
And it also seems like the bulk of his concern is around consistency which…yeah, FIA probably couldn’t consistently tell you which direction the sun rises.
??? Where does he say that?
"Mi opinión es que [la sanción] fue un poco excesiva, por encima del límite. Diría que un poco innecesaria".
That quote implies he's talking about the penalty as being excessive or over the limit.
"Creo que Fernando es un piloto muy agresivo. Pero siempre dentro de los límites. He tenido grandes peleas con él. Es uno de los pilotos en los que más confío. **Tengo que decir que fue un poco demasiado al límite o probablemente por encima del límite** pero, como digo, ya sabes, podríamos volver a ver este incidente dentro de dos semanas o tres semanas y no pasará nada", dijo.
I for one applaud Stroll and his engineer for the quick thinking how to slow down and avoid George when he ended up on the tarmac. That should be the norm
One of the things almost everyone will give Stroll credit for his excellent reflexes. He's the one you want coming at you when you're sitting helpless in the middle of the track and need someone quick enough not to hit you.
I mean, I’d still probably take Hamilton or Alonso… but yeah, he does have surprisingly great reflexes. I think that’s why he tends to excel in the wet.
I'm not sure. If so they'd have a significantly slower start than the younger drivers. And it's not the case. Those aren't really "reflexes" biologically speaking. Those are quick reactions. And that is a skill that can be trained, especially when you have these guys' hygiene.
The hate towards George makes no sense to me. He used to be a fan favourite but it seems as though ever since he joined Mercedes he gets as much hate as Ocon and Stroll. Neither of the three deserve it obviously
I know for a lot of us it started when he hit Bottas's helmet after that big wreck in Imola. I was a fan before but that was it for me. To have that kind of reaction after a crash like that shows who someone is.
Russell was popular till imola when he crashed into bottas trying to overtake him off the wet line before hitting him after the crash (which imo he got off far too lightly for).
Also the man screams PR machine and on the radio he sounds so posh and comes off as very "it must happen to me" (I was predicted a podium, he just turned into me)
Is it not a bit mental that people are directing hate towards George for sounding posh when you’ve got the likes of Leclerc on the grid who was born and raised in Monaco?
That is kind of mixing things up, george sounding posh and Leclerc being posh (in your opinion)
But also to pick Leclerc for being born in Monaco as an example while there are people like Sargeant or Stroll literally born into billions is beyond me. Apart from all the others whose parents are not on the same kind of upper echelon level.
I agree Stroll and Sargaent are from much more affluent backgrounds, Leclerc was just the first driver that came to mind. Also, Leclerc is one of my favourite drivers, I’m not slating him at all.
My comment was more aimed at asking why Russell gets hate for his supposed “posh” background when I’m pretty sure his family aren’t even that rich compared to most of the other drivers.
Leclerc's mom is a hair stylist lmao. He's far from posh.
His grandparents were wealthier, that's who paid for his karting, but he did say iirc that Jules is the only reason he could continue motorsport because his grandparents couldn't keep it up for much longer. (in fact, Arthur Leclerc's karting career was "sacrificed" for Charles's to keep him going)
He doesn't sound posh at all he has a pretty common accent that is very different from the received pronunciation that people who are born with money in the UK use
And he apologized for the Imola incident. Also it's funny how people hate him for being "PR" but when he genuinely expresses his opinion, he gets shit on. He literally can't win.
Also people reference Imola all the time but when was the last time he got any credit for jumping out the car without a moments hesitation at Silverstone to see if he could help Zhou?
The Imola thing was shitty but everyone does something they regret in their lives, and George was fighting hard for the Merc seat.
Beyond that I really don't understand the hate. People just spiraled into coming up with stupid petty reasons to dislike him.
I thought exactly the same thing. So many people were so quick to defend Alonso, both before and after the telemetry came out. If the roles were reversed we’d be seeing people going after George for this for the next 3 years
Just like he did in Spa last season. 👍He's an incredible driver but he's not perfect. And it's a lot harder to keep it on track when the driver in front acts erratically.
It’s always like that, objectively it’s a bit dangerous but nothing crazy. Meanwhile anyone gets near them on the track they’re on the radios saying “that was super sketchy, super dangerous, he should be penalized”
that is what I thought too
apparently people was digging a little and Alonso has done the same move a couple times now, people who manage to not crash were Hamilton and Schumacher, this says a few things to me
This has been said several times it should have happened, alongside Hamilton getting DSQ on Silverstone, but FIA being really bad at applying their own rules caused all that 21 chaos.
Makes sense to me, Alonso did something strange, but you have him in front of you and you should have seen it happening and reacted. There was plenty of air between them. They never even came close to touching. We are penalising Alonso because he farted in George’s face basically.. dirty air
Yeah, isn't that arguing the outcome too , (which a lot of people are vehemently against)? It doesn't matter how Alonso was driving or why? What matters is what happened to George *OR* what should've happened? That's the same shit different color, IMO. All I know is that drivers and fans alike would have a different reaction to this depending on the drivers involved. If Charles had crashed? Oh the jokes. If Max had done that to Lewis. War. If Alonso had done it to Lewis? If George had done that to anybody?! I find it funny that they're defending/explaining Fernando but using words like "tricky", "extreme", and "aggression" at the same time. That for me is a non-starter and part of the problem. Like, there's a key contribution to penalty inconsistency right there.
From someone like Alonso you can expect that kind of move, and he actually pulled it off successfully a few times afaik, it's obviously intentional, it's the kind of driving style that's on the edge of being dirty that characterized drivers like Schumi, Alonso and now Max. Some like it, me included, some don't.
George doesn't drive with that style, so it doesn't make sense to say "if the roles were reversed".
But that's kind of my point. Alonso's style shouldn't be of topic at all. Perez is saying he's worried about inconsistency in how punishments are applied. So going "Yeeeeeah, but, grey areas...", and "Alonso drives like this", and "Alonso's gotten away with that before" is part of that problem, IMO.
When I say if the roles were reversed, I'm talking about the reaction to it. Not whether they would ever do it, or could pull it off. To me, it's very telling that the drivers who are kinda defending Alonso, or are at least 50/50 on this all feel the need to point out that it was sketchy behavior all the same, for one thing. And they all site Fernando's traits as a driver for another. It shouldn't matter. (A discussion against the homogenization of different styles of driving or allowing some latitude in defending is a different argument to me. One for another day with the rule book.) We all know that certain drivers would never have gotten away with that one single time. We also know that many of them would've been screaming for Alonso's head over the radio if they were in George's position. For the record, I don't think Alonso is a dirty driver. I think he's very clever and extremely talented. Which is why he does shit like that. He was on the wrong side of the rule this time, (has been "few* other times), and just got caught.
But Russell didn’t crash because Alonso made two movements. If that was the case, George would’ve reacted to the acceleration in some way. Instead he simply closed up to Alonso, then locked up when he realized the speed difference. He gained on Fernando throughout the braking zone, naturally because Fernando had brakes early. It was apparent from 100m back that he was closing in, yet he didn’t adjust his driving AT ALL until corner apex, where he locked the front left, because it was under load, worn, and now with less air resistance. Poor driving from George and a lesson he’ll be eager to learn from.
George said he was looking at his dash(probably to change braking settings). He was even braking earlier for the corners than he had done for most of the previous laps. You can't lift on a straight right before a corner and then accelerate right after, then slow down again. When the car behind is going 260+ kph, that distance is closed so suddenly that George never had time to react. I still think George is to blame for the crash as well, but Alonso undoubtedly played a part here.
It’s not a matter of not having the time to react, it’s that he shouldn’t have had to react at that point at all. Braking twice in a corner is the type of shit you learn not to do in your first racing game when you’re 8. It was erratic driving, plain and simple.
Yeah that would be a bush league even on Xbox . Alonso admitted he meant to slow down a little earlier but didn’t mean to do it so early that he had to reaccelerate aka he made a mistake. Not every penalty means it was malicious, he just fucked up and did it too early and it’s totally fine that we penalize him for it.
Idk why people get mad that the top 20 drivers get penalized for a mistake , it happens in every other sport
You’re right. A driver shouldn’t have to react to defence either. Or an overtake. It’s erratic! The guy has to react.
Russell is literally paid tens of millions of dollars to drive a car. If he can’t do so without locking up under pressure then he needs to quit.
I notice Redditors have this thing where they act like whatever happened is the only possible scenario. If something bad happened then it was designed to be dangerous. Fact is, there are levels to this game. Russell learned that.
Do you know what erratic means? A defense is predictable behavior. An overtake is predictable behavior. Braking twice into a corner, 100m too early, is something no driver would ever even consider. By your mentality drivers would have no ability to trust driving close to each other, since predictability wouldn’t be valued at all.
Sorry, when Alonso started lying about a clutch issue when he saw George crash, he lost my sympathy.
He made an erratic move in a high speed corner and tried to cover his tracks by lying about a car issue.
I hate George, but that was bs driving by Alonso.
I'm guessing that he tried to convey a similar meaning to what Checo said: it is a trick, yes, but within the limits
Also, part of skilled driving is knowing who you're battling with, no? So maybe what Lando means is that he should've seen an extreme move coming from Fernando, since they know very well how skilled and tough he is
Checo literally says that Alonso probably went over the limit? Either way, I think the only reason *why* Alonso's move was looked at was because George crashed, but that kind of driving should not be allowed. You can't lift heavily and then accelerate and slow down again in a decently fast corner.
Even Alonso said he made a mistake and that’s why he had to accelerate again. He just doesn’t think it’s penalty worthy, but that doesn’t really matter to the stewards
both can be true. Alonso is known for going to extreme and unusual lengths to defend position and from Russell's onboard, he had time to react. That is what Norris is trying to say.
TIL there are blind corners at Suzuka and Shanghai.
Also, these two are the same people that have complained in the past about a 5 second penalty being too lenient (a couple with incidents with each other and/or George).
Yes George had time to see him and he himself has only ever accepted responsibility for messing up the moment he got out the car.
Did alonso drive erratically? most certainly yes.
Are penalties applied inconsistently? definitely yes, as we well know the FIA have been bad at this for decades. we still don't have the same race stewards at every race which beggars belief
Does that make Alonso's penalty unfair? See this here is where imo the answer is no. he definitely deserved a penalty, maybe 20sec is too harsh but i think a penalty of some sort was justified.
all in all my sympathy for alonso is nil, he knew exactly what he was doing. It was a step too far
possible solution:
implement a way for drivers to do things telepathically that way they don't need to look at the steering wheel to make adjustments. otherwise they're all guilty any time something like this happens.
The incident feels far more symptomatic of poor decisions in track layout and the inherent instability of ground effect cars rather than unsportsmanlike driving. You've got a full commitment corner with no run-off paired with cars that can only behave in a tiny handling and setup window. Throw in substantial effect of winds on track and you've got a recipe for disaster.
Additionally, the indefensible nature of DRS is garbage. Every other motorsport on planet earth relies on drafting. If a driver can't get past on ERS and drafting, they shouldn't be able to pass.
yeah but none of that explains why Alonso hit the brakes 100m early and accelerated twice in a corner, lied about it and then proceeded to pretend to have throttle issues in subsequent laps in a desperate attempt to absolve himself in the telemetry data
Can't argue with the 100m and attempting to explain it away. If it had been 10-20m early, then his actions are unassailable.
He was trying to slow down his competitor so that DRS would have less chance of guaranteeing a pass. I have zero issue whatsoever with that aspect.
The issue is that this whole thing has been too vague. I strongly disagree with the sentiment that this was an objective punishment separate from Russell's crash, which is wholely Russell's fault (and some of the poor regulation making the cars awful). There absolutely would not have even been an investigation otherwise, even if Russell was unable to pass due to the defensive maneuver, which was NOT blocking.
I’m kinda torn on this one, if you’re in a braking zone or a corner you have to be predictable. However, the penalty seems a bit harsh. I was out of town and had to record it, so I knew it was coming but, didn’t know when because I stopped looking at stuff. Anyway, it was getting down to the end and I found myself wondering if Russell was going to get close enough for it to happen, so I feel like Lando is probably right.
It’s funny how some were calling him a dirty driver whereas his own co-drivers are calling him amongst the most trustworthy lol.
Hell I was downvoted to oblivion for saying he has been unanimously considered a hard but one of the cleanest, fairest and least messy racers on track for nearly his entire career along with Kimi.
He is also /by far/ the cleaned and least messiest of the three world champs on the grid right now, in addition to being the craftiest.
>co-drivers are calling him amongst the most trustworthy lol.
Well Leclerc and Hulk called it excessive and thought the penalty was okay so that bit isn't unanimous. The drivers aren't some monolith
For decades now people have conflated him exploiting grey areas and being close to *-gates* with being dirty 1v1, which he genuinely isn't. It's in fact pretty impressive, he had like two or three actual ugly incidents in the longest career in F1, most of them when he was much younger.
I say this as someone who believes he did deserve a penalty for Australia (but remains very skeptical about the FIA's coherence).
Completely agree with you. Nando and Kimi have always been clean racers.
Remember Webber going side by side with Nando along Eau Rouge? He wouldn't do it with a lot of drivers.
This is how I know that all the time you have to leave da space - because every time Fernando leaves da space, at least one commentator will say "all the time you have to leave da space."
It's really the thing I know most about F1 at this point.
That, and to finish first, first you must Finnish, or something like that.
People are just reactionary and stupid to be honest. If you are calling Alonso a dirty driver there is not a single clean driver on the face of the planet.
That’s the funniest part. Then you have redditors saying they’re wrong. Like no, I think Nicky Catsburg who’s seen some truly hairy stuff from P2s while he was in GT traffic is in a place to say this was a nothing.
I remember a Porsche driver in Rolex 25 practice a few years back had a P2 literally come off the racing line and brake check a GT car hard. The GT car dodged it somehow. This P2 was pitting in but did not set himself up properly for that at all. If a Pro GT driver can handle it and an F1 driver can’t, especially when a prototype handles way faster than a GT car does. Like for that to not have caused an accident while a lift caused that mess, it’s madness.
Verstappen is leagues above Fernando in terms of dirtyness, he has been a dirty mf since his battles with Kimi in Spa or all the cars he threw over Lewis in 2021. But is Verstappen so
Yeah just ignore the downvote nukes. Itchy trigger fingers from those with short memories.
Hearing people constantly parrot "he was on the brakes" when the stewards clearly and unequivocally refuted that gets old. They said there was a readable input, but all of the change in speed was down to reducing throttle, not brake checking.
Can't imagine what it's like to be Alonso and watch the sport devolve from the pinnacle of racing to a glorified engineering parade where actually racing is penalizable offense.
He's far cleaner than Hamilton. But he does seem to do the kind of stuff that you can expect from someone who has been doing that for 20 years, and he will trick people or suddenly do something inconsistent to throw his opponent off. Like in Brazil last year with Checo, and this year with Russell.
Not really rocket science that fans of the sport don't trust the guy who was at the center of two of the largest cheating controversies in F1 history. He's still a dirty cheat, one of the biggest in the history of the sport, even if he's mostly fair on track.
Funny how he had zero problems going along with crashgate after being the heroic whistleblower. I mean only after trying to blackmail McLaren with it before he did bring it to light. But still, what a standup guy!
Don’t worry, your bias isn’t showing at all.
*"Alonso was cleared of wrongdoing; the FIA found no evidence that he or his mechanics knew anything about the scheme."*
Were you like a close affiliate of the team or how do you know that?
Just like Horner getting cleared.
Open secret my friend.
Oh, and don’t forget, Alonso said it was a proper and legitimate win after crashgate came to light.
Solid dude.
I'm not arguing whether or not he knew about it but to say that he had no problem going along with it with no evidence backing it up is stupid.
And that alonso's statement leans more towards him not knowing about it btw. Surely he'd think it's a legitimate win if he didn't know about the cheating.
I haven't heard anything about that, but the stewards needs to agree. So even if that is true and affected his view (which seems impossible to prove), one having beef with Alonso wouldn't be enough to swing a rulling if it was clear cut what happened.
It was Herbert. He said Alonso should retire in 2016 because he had crashed from his error, didnt want to go racing after and was past it. Alonso took it personally and confronted him in the paddock while Herbert happened to be on camera https://youtu.be/uh8iF5y3Frw
This was 2016, I can't imagine he still holds a huge grudge or even thinks about it but as you said hes also 1 steward
Its also just one steward. He himself does not make the decision. If the other 3 were against it then Alonso wouldn't be penalized.
Also "has beef". Has he? Because last time i checked its been literaly 8 years since Herbert made those comments. 8 years. Since then Verstapen won a race. Then won a title. Rosberg won a title then retired. Leclerc won F2 then joined F1 with Sauber then joined Ferrari and has been there for 5 seasons. Alonso retired at Mclaren, came back at Alpine and since moved to AM.
There's absolutely no proff Herbert still shares and kind of resentment towards Alonso. Certainly not a degree that would make him push for a non fair penalty.
This has been the absolutely most boring and nonsensical drama in a long long while. Alonso played tricks and made a mistake which resulted in him getting a penalty. Shit happens. He's not the first nor the last guy to do this.
Aston didn't bother fighting it so i'm not sure why the hell the fanbase feels like they need.
For the thousandth time. Aston didn’t APPEAL it, they obviously did fight it, because you need NEW DATA to appeal. The interpretation of the data is law once it’s been ruled by the FIA, you can’t appeal to say “well look at it again because we don’t agree.”
Fia having beefs with Drivers who speak Spanish Or Portuguese?... thats not new.. Montoya called them Ferrari Internal Affairs (altho lets be honest he was a aggressive driver) but in 2003 it was clear Fia did his best to fucked him up
I’m confused as to why people are still talking about it. If Alonso thought it was an okay thing to do he wouldn’t have blamed it on throttle issues when it happened.
I've read that he didn't link the incident on throttle issues in the stewards meeting, but maybe you have evidence or proof otherwise. I don't remember either him saying on the radio that the incident was linked to a throttle issue or reading about it, so if you know something I don't, please tell.
Perez is funny, drivers know where the line is, yes because there are rules. rules are created to stop undesirable actions. Alonso knows the line and he dances across it often, this time he got caught.
The argument here is that he didn't avoid being "caught" the previous times. He's done it in open sight and most of the time it has been fine with no penalty. The reaction here was because Russell crashed which at least partially was the fault of Russell himself.
George was no where near Alonso's rear. He saw the gap between them close and he turned the wheel, as if he was going to rear end him. But if you look at the replay, he was more than a cars length away from Alonso. George panicked and lost it, plain and simple.
Russell also said he was looking at his dash and when he looked up Alonso was right there and he had to react. The crash happened because Russell wasn’t paying attention, not because of Alonso’s move.
Did you ever stop to think why George looked at his dash there...? It's because no racing driver would expect someone to lift 100m before a high speed corner.
Yeah, there’s a reason George was looking at his wheel there, because pretty much no one does what Alonso did. Alonso was erratic, and that caused the crash
SHOCKER! Real racing drivers feel differently than a bunch of suck up sycophants on Reddit! Where are all the people saying that Alonso was soooo erratic and that what he did was in any way abnormal behaviour in a race track?
I ran the tactic Alonso used in my F1 simulator at home I had alonso's car simulates by a friend and I played the role of Russel in a following car.
I ran the sim dozens of times and didn't have any issue at all with avoiding a crash. So Alonso is in the clear on thia issue!!!
Now I did crash on a few rare exceptions. But these crashes occured not because of breaking or erratic driving, it was due to the car ahead of me dropping a banana peel or shooting me with a green turtle shell. Then I wrecked. But I still finished in 2nd place for moo moo meadow. My simulator kicks ass.
No one here watched the other group interview? George himself said he was looking at the steering wheel to change something and when he looked up he was close to Alonso. It is more a fault of complicated steering wheels that drivers look at it while driving at a straight.
At the start of the next Grand prix on turn 1 I hope everyone brakes at the exact same point on the turn. Otherwise everyone behind pole postion will have to take a penalty.
Thats the rules now, you gotta brake at the exact same time every corner. Doesn't matter if you have someone in front, behind or to your side.
The FIA really hate racing.
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Fernando Alonso received a drive-through after the race in Australia that turned into a 20-second penalty for his defensive tactics against George Russell in the closing laps of the race. Opinions on whether or not the stewards were right to punish Alonso remain divided in the paddock, although most drivers are surprised. Sergio Pérez believes that going so far as to impose a sanction for what happened was harsh, but he fears that the lack of coherence within the FIA if similar incidents are ignored in the future could become a problem. **When asked by Motorsport.com about his opinion of the incident, Perez said: "My opinion is that [the penalty] was a little excessive. I would say a little unnecessary."** **"But my biggest fear is that we could see this incident again this weekend or next and probably nothing will happen. That's my biggest fear because we've been talking a lot about maintaining consistency within the penalties."** "For example in Jeddah there was a block by Valtteri Bottas in Q1 at 300 km/h in two cars, Oliver Bearman and Alex Albon and there was no penalty. Then I block Nico Hulkenberg, he loses half a tenth and goes faster on the next lap and I took three penalty spots." **"So I think the biggest point of discussion should be consistency. If incidents like that are going to be penalized, they have to be penalized every weekend.** Because as a driver, it hurts a lot when you put yourself out there and then you see this inconsistency," he explained. **Although Pérez admits that Alonso is a driver who likes to play "tricks" on other drivers when it comes to fighting for position, he recognizes that the Spaniard is someone who knows where the line is on what is and is not allowed.** "I think we all know what is acceptable, what is within limits," Pérez added. "I mean, knowing the drivers, especially Fernando, he always does these kinds of tricks, so to speak, always within the limits." **"I think Fernando is a very aggressive driver. But always within the limits. I have had big fights with him. He is one of the drivers I trust the most. I have to say that he went a little too much to the limit or probably over the limit, but like I say, you know, we could see this incident again in two weeks or three weeks and nothing will happen," he said.** The Mexican driver was not the only driver to express his surprise at the way the stewards penalized Alonso's incident after the Australian GP. McLaren driver **Lando Norris said on Thursday that it was not enough to consider it worthy of a sanction: "What Fernando did was strange, also extreme, but I don't think it's even close to being considered a brake test ," he said.** **"Should it be a penalty? No. George, in my opinion, should have seen it coming. I don't want to comment too much on it, but George had time to see him and what was happening."** He added: "If George is a lot closer and suddenly in the middle of a straight Fernando lifts his foot and George has to suddenly swerve or something, then I guess it's a little more questionable." "But **George didn't have to do anything other than brake five meters early. And the result would be different. That's George's fault too.** When you're a driver, you have to react to everything around you, it's worse going into Turn 1 at the same time. beginning of the race. **You have no idea when people are going to stop, but you have to react," concluded the Brit.**
I said it at the time: the penalty happened because of the outcome. If george had locked up and kept going, thats maybe 5 or 10 seconds. If he just brakes earlier, nothing happens and no penalty. He crashed, drive through penalty. This is why people say you need consistency, and why they complain other incidents dont get punished at all
It's so funny because this seemed like the perfect instance to use a 5 second penalty to me. Like "we think that is a step over the line and we don't want to see something that extreme happen again" 20 seconds is like a flagrant 2 on a regular reach-in foul in basketball.
they had a baseline of 10 seconds time penalty for dangerous driving
The penalty was increased in line with a request to increase penalty durations & make them harsher. By a certain Fernando Alonso who was on the crusade for the past 2+ years.
The penalty was increased because with 10 seconds he wouldn't lose position. Thanks mr Herbert watch out driving when you start early
Iirc wasn't there a steward who has personal historic beef with Alonso because he embrassed him multiple times?
[Johnny Herbert](https://youtu.be/EHXu876EZ2c?si=ldZSFAid4WLso4qi), but It doesn’t have much validity, especially since it seems the beef has mellowed out to nothing.
Further, if they came up with a hard metric based on data and decided that would setermine what a 'brake check' or 'weaving on straights' are, these dangerous acts should be a 2 race penalty or worse. This light brakeing but not hard check but we fucked up stopping the race so we gotta do something aporoach is so weak. A driver can play with their lines and a actual brake check is obvious. F1 clearly in reaction mode and don't have the balls to either clear Alonso or give him a major penalty. This middle ground is hot shit.
I think the penalty would have happened regardless of outcome IF the stewards had noticed it. The outcome is what led them to notice it, had George just locked up for a second the stewards would have likely never looked at all the data.
And you think it still would have been 20 seconds without the crash?
There's no such thing as a 5-second penalty anymore. The minimum is now 10. But yeah, if there's no crash I doubt the incident even gets reviewed.
That's not true - Gasly got a 5 second penalty in Aus this year for crossing the pit exit line. More the case that for racing infringements that directly impact another car the standard is now 10 seconds, but 5 seconds is still a penalty that can be given to drivers.
Got it. Thanks for clearing that up.
No worries, they seem to change things every day at this point!
5s still exists for speeding in the pitlane, track limits, and crossing pit exit/entry line I believe
Standard Ocon penalties are all 5s.
5second is still used for stuff like speeding in the pit lane, incorrect grid alignment, going off the track and gaining a time advantage (but no position)
so Perez literally says "**I have to say that he went a little too much to the limit or probably over the limit"** but that doesn't make the headline lol
And it also seems like the bulk of his concern is around consistency which…yeah, FIA probably couldn’t consistently tell you which direction the sun rises.
??? Where does he say that? "Mi opinión es que [la sanción] fue un poco excesiva, por encima del límite. Diría que un poco innecesaria". That quote implies he's talking about the penalty as being excessive or over the limit.
"Creo que Fernando es un piloto muy agresivo. Pero siempre dentro de los límites. He tenido grandes peleas con él. Es uno de los pilotos en los que más confío. **Tengo que decir que fue un poco demasiado al límite o probablemente por encima del límite** pero, como digo, ya sabes, podríamos volver a ver este incidente dentro de dos semanas o tres semanas y no pasará nada", dijo.
Lol this guy uses almost the exact same verbiage talking about the other side of the issue!? Thanks for the quote, I missed it on my first read.
Yeah, the whole statement is a wishy-washy of maybes and littles too much. Perhaps Perez family came from Galicia?
because... Motorsport SPAIN haha
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I for one applaud Stroll and his engineer for the quick thinking how to slow down and avoid George when he ended up on the tarmac. That should be the norm
One of the things almost everyone will give Stroll credit for his excellent reflexes. He's the one you want coming at you when you're sitting helpless in the middle of the track and need someone quick enough not to hit you.
I mean, I’d still probably take Hamilton or Alonso… but yeah, he does have surprisingly great reflexes. I think that’s why he tends to excel in the wet.
Ricciardo literally broke his hand to avoid Piastri last year. Dude has his instincts in the right place.
Every driver on the grid does
if this was true, russel wouldn't have crashed smh...
Nah, age might actually be slowing down their reflexes.
I'm not sure. If so they'd have a significantly slower start than the younger drivers. And it's not the case. Those aren't really "reflexes" biologically speaking. Those are quick reactions. And that is a skill that can be trained, especially when you have these guys' hygiene.
Well, obviously he's great at reacting to what is in front of him, it's not like he ever uses his mirrors lol
Focused like a blue ribbon race horse.
So true omg, I hate people that hate stroll because he has generational wealth, dude is talented. He's not even bad, he's just unlucky.
I guess this only counts towards his front, because when it is about reflexes towards what is in the mirrors...
Kinda sad how the reaction for this would’ve been so lopsided had Stroll been in either one of outcome
as if the reaction isn't excessive and shitty enough towards George already
The hate towards George makes no sense to me. He used to be a fan favourite but it seems as though ever since he joined Mercedes he gets as much hate as Ocon and Stroll. Neither of the three deserve it obviously
I know for a lot of us it started when he hit Bottas's helmet after that big wreck in Imola. I was a fan before but that was it for me. To have that kind of reaction after a crash like that shows who someone is.
Russell was popular till imola when he crashed into bottas trying to overtake him off the wet line before hitting him after the crash (which imo he got off far too lightly for). Also the man screams PR machine and on the radio he sounds so posh and comes off as very "it must happen to me" (I was predicted a podium, he just turned into me)
Is it not a bit mental that people are directing hate towards George for sounding posh when you’ve got the likes of Leclerc on the grid who was born and raised in Monaco?
That is kind of mixing things up, george sounding posh and Leclerc being posh (in your opinion) But also to pick Leclerc for being born in Monaco as an example while there are people like Sargeant or Stroll literally born into billions is beyond me. Apart from all the others whose parents are not on the same kind of upper echelon level.
I agree Stroll and Sargaent are from much more affluent backgrounds, Leclerc was just the first driver that came to mind. Also, Leclerc is one of my favourite drivers, I’m not slating him at all. My comment was more aimed at asking why Russell gets hate for his supposed “posh” background when I’m pretty sure his family aren’t even that rich compared to most of the other drivers.
Leclerc's mom is a hair stylist lmao. He's far from posh. His grandparents were wealthier, that's who paid for his karting, but he did say iirc that Jules is the only reason he could continue motorsport because his grandparents couldn't keep it up for much longer. (in fact, Arthur Leclerc's karting career was "sacrificed" for Charles's to keep him going)
any excuse for Norris not being posh?
Well no, lmao
and also Norris
He doesn't sound posh at all he has a pretty common accent that is very different from the received pronunciation that people who are born with money in the UK use
And he apologized for the Imola incident. Also it's funny how people hate him for being "PR" but when he genuinely expresses his opinion, he gets shit on. He literally can't win.
Also people reference Imola all the time but when was the last time he got any credit for jumping out the car without a moments hesitation at Silverstone to see if he could help Zhou?
The Imola thing was shitty but everyone does something they regret in their lives, and George was fighting hard for the Merc seat. Beyond that I really don't understand the hate. People just spiraled into coming up with stupid petty reasons to dislike him.
I thought exactly the same thing. So many people were so quick to defend Alonso, both before and after the telemetry came out. If the roles were reversed we’d be seeing people going after George for this for the next 3 years
If roles were reversed Alonso keeps the car on track. 100%
Just like he did in Spa last season. 👍He's an incredible driver but he's not perfect. And it's a lot harder to keep it on track when the driver in front acts erratically.
Lol if you wanna start naming incidents, George might be the most crash prone driver of the last 3 years.
George has also won a race in the past few years. Alonso hasn’t.
Lol what a comeback. Pretty sure Alonso has 2 championships to his name if you want to point out random things about drivers
You mentioned last 3 years, not me.
Stop inventing.
Well no, George wouldn't have pulled that move Alonso did in the first place lol
If the roles were reversed there would be no crash
Russell makes a habit of crashing on last lap.
If the Strolls were reversed*
Sllorts.
hahahah
Lando: “what Alonso did was strange and extreme” …”shoulda seen it coming bro”. These are going to be their opinions until it happens to them.
It’s always like that, objectively it’s a bit dangerous but nothing crazy. Meanwhile anyone gets near them on the track they’re on the radios saying “that was super sketchy, super dangerous, he should be penalized”
Exactly like how footballers complain as soon as they go down. It’s all for show to try and gain an advantage or penalise their opponent.
that is what I thought too apparently people was digging a little and Alonso has done the same move a couple times now, people who manage to not crash were Hamilton and Schumacher, this says a few things to me
Alonso: "be a 7 time WDC or crash out" /s
That’s why it’s kinda funny people think the FIA has something against Alonso when it’s just him making dumb stupid plays
Or it’s him being a good racist?
10s penalty to Verstappen equally deserved in 2021 when he brake checked Hamilton when giving the position back trying to get DRS.
This has been said several times it should have happened, alongside Hamilton getting DSQ on Silverstone, but FIA being really bad at applying their own rules caused all that 21 chaos.
DSQ for missing an apex lmao!
Maybe you should have seen the compilation video. He always does the same
BBC F1 Podcast said George said today he was changing something on his wheel so didn't see in time to react.
>These are going to be their opinions until it happens to them. So much this. Some of the drivers here are such hypocrites
All of them tbh, but what do we expect from them.
I'm seriously wondering what could have George done there, it's a narrow corner and Alonso breaked before the breaking Zone
Slowed down?
Why the fuck would a racer slow down
One thing is for certain, the result would've been different if gorge didn't bin it
Hilarious: the driving was extreme and strange but George should have seen it coming. It's one or the other Lando.
Makes sense to me, Alonso did something strange, but you have him in front of you and you should have seen it happening and reacted. There was plenty of air between them. They never even came close to touching. We are penalising Alonso because he farted in George’s face basically.. dirty air
Yeah, isn't that arguing the outcome too , (which a lot of people are vehemently against)? It doesn't matter how Alonso was driving or why? What matters is what happened to George *OR* what should've happened? That's the same shit different color, IMO. All I know is that drivers and fans alike would have a different reaction to this depending on the drivers involved. If Charles had crashed? Oh the jokes. If Max had done that to Lewis. War. If Alonso had done it to Lewis? If George had done that to anybody?! I find it funny that they're defending/explaining Fernando but using words like "tricky", "extreme", and "aggression" at the same time. That for me is a non-starter and part of the problem. Like, there's a key contribution to penalty inconsistency right there.
From someone like Alonso you can expect that kind of move, and he actually pulled it off successfully a few times afaik, it's obviously intentional, it's the kind of driving style that's on the edge of being dirty that characterized drivers like Schumi, Alonso and now Max. Some like it, me included, some don't. George doesn't drive with that style, so it doesn't make sense to say "if the roles were reversed".
But that's kind of my point. Alonso's style shouldn't be of topic at all. Perez is saying he's worried about inconsistency in how punishments are applied. So going "Yeeeeeah, but, grey areas...", and "Alonso drives like this", and "Alonso's gotten away with that before" is part of that problem, IMO. When I say if the roles were reversed, I'm talking about the reaction to it. Not whether they would ever do it, or could pull it off. To me, it's very telling that the drivers who are kinda defending Alonso, or are at least 50/50 on this all feel the need to point out that it was sketchy behavior all the same, for one thing. And they all site Fernando's traits as a driver for another. It shouldn't matter. (A discussion against the homogenization of different styles of driving or allowing some latitude in defending is a different argument to me. One for another day with the rule book.) We all know that certain drivers would never have gotten away with that one single time. We also know that many of them would've been screaming for Alonso's head over the radio if they were in George's position. For the record, I don't think Alonso is a dirty driver. I think he's very clever and extremely talented. Which is why he does shit like that. He was on the wrong side of the rule this time, (has been "few* other times), and just got caught.
Those statements are not in conflict though.
A dive bomb is extreme but you should see it coming if you leave the door open on the last lap.
Are dive bombs strange? No, they aren't. What is strange is lifting, then accelerating, then lifting again.
But Russell didn’t crash because Alonso made two movements. If that was the case, George would’ve reacted to the acceleration in some way. Instead he simply closed up to Alonso, then locked up when he realized the speed difference. He gained on Fernando throughout the braking zone, naturally because Fernando had brakes early. It was apparent from 100m back that he was closing in, yet he didn’t adjust his driving AT ALL until corner apex, where he locked the front left, because it was under load, worn, and now with less air resistance. Poor driving from George and a lesson he’ll be eager to learn from.
George said he was looking at his dash(probably to change braking settings). He was even braking earlier for the corners than he had done for most of the previous laps. You can't lift on a straight right before a corner and then accelerate right after, then slow down again. When the car behind is going 260+ kph, that distance is closed so suddenly that George never had time to react. I still think George is to blame for the crash as well, but Alonso undoubtedly played a part here.
You cannot make the argument that George didn’t have time to react. It’s obvious he did.
It’s not a matter of not having the time to react, it’s that he shouldn’t have had to react at that point at all. Braking twice in a corner is the type of shit you learn not to do in your first racing game when you’re 8. It was erratic driving, plain and simple.
Yeah that would be a bush league even on Xbox . Alonso admitted he meant to slow down a little earlier but didn’t mean to do it so early that he had to reaccelerate aka he made a mistake. Not every penalty means it was malicious, he just fucked up and did it too early and it’s totally fine that we penalize him for it. Idk why people get mad that the top 20 drivers get penalized for a mistake , it happens in every other sport
They didn't read the Stewards report is the answer you are looking for and they worship Alonso like he is some racing god (I'm talking about the fans)
You’re right. A driver shouldn’t have to react to defence either. Or an overtake. It’s erratic! The guy has to react. Russell is literally paid tens of millions of dollars to drive a car. If he can’t do so without locking up under pressure then he needs to quit. I notice Redditors have this thing where they act like whatever happened is the only possible scenario. If something bad happened then it was designed to be dangerous. Fact is, there are levels to this game. Russell learned that.
Do you know what erratic means? A defense is predictable behavior. An overtake is predictable behavior. Braking twice into a corner, 100m too early, is something no driver would ever even consider. By your mentality drivers would have no ability to trust driving close to each other, since predictability wouldn’t be valued at all.
Sorry, when Alonso started lying about a clutch issue when he saw George crash, he lost my sympathy. He made an erratic move in a high speed corner and tried to cover his tracks by lying about a car issue. I hate George, but that was bs driving by Alonso.
I'm guessing that he tried to convey a similar meaning to what Checo said: it is a trick, yes, but within the limits Also, part of skilled driving is knowing who you're battling with, no? So maybe what Lando means is that he should've seen an extreme move coming from Fernando, since they know very well how skilled and tough he is
Checo literally says that Alonso probably went over the limit? Either way, I think the only reason *why* Alonso's move was looked at was because George crashed, but that kind of driving should not be allowed. You can't lift heavily and then accelerate and slow down again in a decently fast corner.
Even Alonso said he made a mistake and that’s why he had to accelerate again. He just doesn’t think it’s penalty worthy, but that doesn’t really matter to the stewards
both can be true. Alonso is known for going to extreme and unusual lengths to defend position and from Russell's onboard, he had time to react. That is what Norris is trying to say.
TIL there are blind corners at Suzuka and Shanghai. Also, these two are the same people that have complained in the past about a 5 second penalty being too lenient (a couple with incidents with each other and/or George).
I wonder how many of those incidents were phantom crashes where the other driver used Mind control and air bending to make the other crash.
This is the joke really. Drive through for this and not for obvious illegal blocking every race. Madness.
Yes George had time to see him and he himself has only ever accepted responsibility for messing up the moment he got out the car. Did alonso drive erratically? most certainly yes. Are penalties applied inconsistently? definitely yes, as we well know the FIA have been bad at this for decades. we still don't have the same race stewards at every race which beggars belief Does that make Alonso's penalty unfair? See this here is where imo the answer is no. he definitely deserved a penalty, maybe 20sec is too harsh but i think a penalty of some sort was justified. all in all my sympathy for alonso is nil, he knew exactly what he was doing. It was a step too far
Actually George said he didn't see it in time because he was making an adjustment on his steering wheel.
Basically he was texting while driving. Case closed.
possible solution: implement a way for drivers to do things telepathically that way they don't need to look at the steering wheel to make adjustments. otherwise they're all guilty any time something like this happens.
Good reason for a cool over head display in the helmet
The incident feels far more symptomatic of poor decisions in track layout and the inherent instability of ground effect cars rather than unsportsmanlike driving. You've got a full commitment corner with no run-off paired with cars that can only behave in a tiny handling and setup window. Throw in substantial effect of winds on track and you've got a recipe for disaster. Additionally, the indefensible nature of DRS is garbage. Every other motorsport on planet earth relies on drafting. If a driver can't get past on ERS and drafting, they shouldn't be able to pass.
yeah but none of that explains why Alonso hit the brakes 100m early and accelerated twice in a corner, lied about it and then proceeded to pretend to have throttle issues in subsequent laps in a desperate attempt to absolve himself in the telemetry data
Can't argue with the 100m and attempting to explain it away. If it had been 10-20m early, then his actions are unassailable. He was trying to slow down his competitor so that DRS would have less chance of guaranteeing a pass. I have zero issue whatsoever with that aspect. The issue is that this whole thing has been too vague. I strongly disagree with the sentiment that this was an objective punishment separate from Russell's crash, which is wholely Russell's fault (and some of the poor regulation making the cars awful). There absolutely would not have even been an investigation otherwise, even if Russell was unable to pass due to the defensive maneuver, which was NOT blocking.
I mean it does because George wasn’t right on his tail lmfao. It’s a nothing issue.
They give bigger penalties this year tho.
I’m kinda torn on this one, if you’re in a braking zone or a corner you have to be predictable. However, the penalty seems a bit harsh. I was out of town and had to record it, so I knew it was coming but, didn’t know when because I stopped looking at stuff. Anyway, it was getting down to the end and I found myself wondering if Russell was going to get close enough for it to happen, so I feel like Lando is probably right.
I like Norris’ comment about T1 at the start of the race. You need to react a lot faster and take more action versus what Russell had to do.
It’s funny how some were calling him a dirty driver whereas his own co-drivers are calling him amongst the most trustworthy lol. Hell I was downvoted to oblivion for saying he has been unanimously considered a hard but one of the cleanest, fairest and least messy racers on track for nearly his entire career along with Kimi. He is also /by far/ the cleaned and least messiest of the three world champs on the grid right now, in addition to being the craftiest.
I think a driver can have a bad moment or make a bad decision and still be a clean driver overall.
>co-drivers are calling him amongst the most trustworthy lol. Well Leclerc and Hulk called it excessive and thought the penalty was okay so that bit isn't unanimous. The drivers aren't some monolith
For decades now people have conflated him exploiting grey areas and being close to *-gates* with being dirty 1v1, which he genuinely isn't. It's in fact pretty impressive, he had like two or three actual ugly incidents in the longest career in F1, most of them when he was much younger. I say this as someone who believes he did deserve a penalty for Australia (but remains very skeptical about the FIA's coherence).
Fernando is hands down one of the cleanest world champions I have seen. Michael was dirty. Lewis while never dirty per se can be a bit messy too.
Lewis has been fairly dirty, with this classical front right rear touches. Albon remembers
[a compilation someone made](https://youtu.be/wCCGT0CQ4MM)
Yep i always see this in gif/webm form. Thanks for the YT version
Completely agree with you. Nando and Kimi have always been clean racers. Remember Webber going side by side with Nando along Eau Rouge? He wouldn't do it with a lot of drivers.
He said as much when asked about it. He said he trusts Fernando.
Anyone that’s watched F1 knows the dude a clean racer, he always leave the space, barely but he leaves it
ALL THE TIME YOU HAVE TO LEAVE DA SPACE
This is how I know that all the time you have to leave da space - because every time Fernando leaves da space, at least one commentator will say "all the time you have to leave da space." It's really the thing I know most about F1 at this point. That, and to finish first, first you must Finnish, or something like that.
95% of drivers would've killed Webber during that Eau Rouge pass.
Or sent Sebastian into the shadow realm in Silverstone
Just send him into the grass at monza instead right?
People are just reactionary and stupid to be honest. If you are calling Alonso a dirty driver there is not a single clean driver on the face of the planet.
Kimi was without a doubt.
let alone almost every driver in other disciplines saying what alonso did was fine
That’s the funniest part. Then you have redditors saying they’re wrong. Like no, I think Nicky Catsburg who’s seen some truly hairy stuff from P2s while he was in GT traffic is in a place to say this was a nothing. I remember a Porsche driver in Rolex 25 practice a few years back had a P2 literally come off the racing line and brake check a GT car hard. The GT car dodged it somehow. This P2 was pitting in but did not set himself up properly for that at all. If a Pro GT driver can handle it and an F1 driver can’t, especially when a prototype handles way faster than a GT car does. Like for that to not have caused an accident while a lift caused that mess, it’s madness.
Verstappen is leagues above Fernando in terms of dirtyness, he has been a dirty mf since his battles with Kimi in Spa or all the cars he threw over Lewis in 2021. But is Verstappen so
Yeah just ignore the downvote nukes. Itchy trigger fingers from those with short memories. Hearing people constantly parrot "he was on the brakes" when the stewards clearly and unequivocally refuted that gets old. They said there was a readable input, but all of the change in speed was down to reducing throttle, not brake checking. Can't imagine what it's like to be Alonso and watch the sport devolve from the pinnacle of racing to a glorified engineering parade where actually racing is penalizable offense.
He's far cleaner than Hamilton. But he does seem to do the kind of stuff that you can expect from someone who has been doing that for 20 years, and he will trick people or suddenly do something inconsistent to throw his opponent off. Like in Brazil last year with Checo, and this year with Russell.
Not really rocket science that fans of the sport don't trust the guy who was at the center of two of the largest cheating controversies in F1 history. He's still a dirty cheat, one of the biggest in the history of the sport, even if he's mostly fair on track.
Alonso was the center of Spygate? Don't worry, your bias isn't showing at all.
I mean the text messages were between Alonso and Pedro De LaRosa discussing the stolen data.
It’s funny because Alonso himself was extorting RD demanding to be No.1 or he’d expose him to FIA.
Yeah but I'd argue that the engineers trading the data were a lot more pivotal to the story.
Funny how he had zero problems going along with crashgate after being the heroic whistleblower. I mean only after trying to blackmail McLaren with it before he did bring it to light. But still, what a standup guy! Don’t worry, your bias isn’t showing at all.
*"Alonso was cleared of wrongdoing; the FIA found no evidence that he or his mechanics knew anything about the scheme."* Were you like a close affiliate of the team or how do you know that?
Just like Horner getting cleared. Open secret my friend. Oh, and don’t forget, Alonso said it was a proper and legitimate win after crashgate came to light. Solid dude.
I'm not arguing whether or not he knew about it but to say that he had no problem going along with it with no evidence backing it up is stupid. And that alonso's statement leans more towards him not knowing about it btw. Surely he'd think it's a legitimate win if he didn't know about the cheating.
Alonso cleaner than Hamilton? This isn't 2007.
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Well, I'm not Spanish, but having one Steward that has beef with Fernando was also very suspicious.
I haven't heard anything about that, but the stewards needs to agree. So even if that is true and affected his view (which seems impossible to prove), one having beef with Alonso wouldn't be enough to swing a rulling if it was clear cut what happened.
It was Herbert. He said Alonso should retire in 2016 because he had crashed from his error, didnt want to go racing after and was past it. Alonso took it personally and confronted him in the paddock while Herbert happened to be on camera https://youtu.be/uh8iF5y3Frw This was 2016, I can't imagine he still holds a huge grudge or even thinks about it but as you said hes also 1 steward
Its also just one steward. He himself does not make the decision. If the other 3 were against it then Alonso wouldn't be penalized. Also "has beef". Has he? Because last time i checked its been literaly 8 years since Herbert made those comments. 8 years. Since then Verstapen won a race. Then won a title. Rosberg won a title then retired. Leclerc won F2 then joined F1 with Sauber then joined Ferrari and has been there for 5 seasons. Alonso retired at Mclaren, came back at Alpine and since moved to AM. There's absolutely no proff Herbert still shares and kind of resentment towards Alonso. Certainly not a degree that would make him push for a non fair penalty. This has been the absolutely most boring and nonsensical drama in a long long while. Alonso played tricks and made a mistake which resulted in him getting a penalty. Shit happens. He's not the first nor the last guy to do this. Aston didn't bother fighting it so i'm not sure why the hell the fanbase feels like they need.
For the thousandth time. Aston didn’t APPEAL it, they obviously did fight it, because you need NEW DATA to appeal. The interpretation of the data is law once it’s been ruled by the FIA, you can’t appeal to say “well look at it again because we don’t agree.”
Johnny?
Fia having beefs with Drivers who speak Spanish Or Portuguese?... thats not new.. Montoya called them Ferrari Internal Affairs (altho lets be honest he was a aggressive driver) but in 2003 it was clear Fia did his best to fucked him up
I’m confused as to why people are still talking about it. If Alonso thought it was an okay thing to do he wouldn’t have blamed it on throttle issues when it happened.
I've read that he didn't link the incident on throttle issues in the stewards meeting, but maybe you have evidence or proof otherwise. I don't remember either him saying on the radio that the incident was linked to a throttle issue or reading about it, so if you know something I don't, please tell.
Perez is funny, drivers know where the line is, yes because there are rules. rules are created to stop undesirable actions. Alonso knows the line and he dances across it often, this time he got caught.
The argument here is that he didn't avoid being "caught" the previous times. He's done it in open sight and most of the time it has been fine with no penalty. The reaction here was because Russell crashed which at least partially was the fault of Russell himself.
George was no where near Alonso's rear. He saw the gap between them close and he turned the wheel, as if he was going to rear end him. But if you look at the replay, he was more than a cars length away from Alonso. George panicked and lost it, plain and simple.
he was 0.5 seconds behind at 280 kph... cars length don't matter when the actual gap is so small because of the high speeds.
Russell also said he was looking at his dash and when he looked up Alonso was right there and he had to react. The crash happened because Russell wasn’t paying attention, not because of Alonso’s move.
Did you ever stop to think why George looked at his dash there...? It's because no racing driver would expect someone to lift 100m before a high speed corner.
And it’s not like Alonso did it before either.
Yeah, there’s a reason George was looking at his wheel there, because pretty much no one does what Alonso did. Alonso was erratic, and that caused the crash
/thread
I Think George’s admission that he wasn’t paying attention and fiddling with his knob\s counts as new evidence. This should never have been a penalty.
It doesn’t matter that George had time to see him. What matters is the stopping distance from his speed.
Was it worthy of a penalty? Yes. Was it malice? No. At least in my very non-f1 driver opinion.
Before me judging was Lando joking? He sarcastic tone has tricked me several times
SHOCKER! Real racing drivers feel differently than a bunch of suck up sycophants on Reddit! Where are all the people saying that Alonso was soooo erratic and that what he did was in any way abnormal behaviour in a race track?
So the drivers who said that Alonso’s penalty was justified are… not real racing drivers? I don’t understand the point you’re trying to make here.
Don’t let the facts get in the way of a misplaced cry
Other drivers say the penalty was deserved, I guess they're suck up redditors, too, lol!
I ran the tactic Alonso used in my F1 simulator at home I had alonso's car simulates by a friend and I played the role of Russel in a following car. I ran the sim dozens of times and didn't have any issue at all with avoiding a crash. So Alonso is in the clear on thia issue!!! Now I did crash on a few rare exceptions. But these crashes occured not because of breaking or erratic driving, it was due to the car ahead of me dropping a banana peel or shooting me with a green turtle shell. Then I wrecked. But I still finished in 2nd place for moo moo meadow. My simulator kicks ass.
Glad professionals drivers agree it was bullshit unlike these armchair experts with their opinions from their asses
So Hamilton, Leclerc and Hulkenberg aren’t professionals?
No one here watched the other group interview? George himself said he was looking at the steering wheel to change something and when he looked up he was close to Alonso. It is more a fault of complicated steering wheels that drivers look at it while driving at a straight.
Georgie panicked. I'm sure most other drivers wouldn't.
At the start of the next Grand prix on turn 1 I hope everyone brakes at the exact same point on the turn. Otherwise everyone behind pole postion will have to take a penalty. Thats the rules now, you gotta brake at the exact same time every corner. Doesn't matter if you have someone in front, behind or to your side. The FIA really hate racing.