Alonso got a penalty after the race in Melbourne’s Albert Park. He had to do a drive-through penalty, which turned into a 20-second penalty. This was because he drove in a strange and possibly dangerous way towards the end of the race.
Alonso was racing with George Russell from Mercedes. He slowed down much earlier than usual before Turn 6. He did this to get a better chance to speed up on the straight after the turn. But Russell didn’t expect Alonso to slow down so much and crashed because of it. Alonso’s penalty made him go from sixth place to eighth. He was upset about this and said he never wanted to do anything wrong when driving so fast.
Krack, the team principal, defended Alonso. He said Alonso would never do anything to put others in danger.
Krack wrote in a statement, “Everyone is glad George was okay after his accident. We support Fernando fully. He has a lot of experience in Formula 1, more than anyone else. He has been racing for over 20 years and has won many championships. Fernando is a great racer, and he was doing everything he could to stay ahead of George. He wouldn’t want to harm anyone.”
Aston had 96 hours after the race to appeal the penalty, but they chose not to. They didn’t have any new evidence to show the stewards.
The stewards looked at Alonso’s data from the race. They saw that he slowed down a lot earlier than usual before Turn 6. Alonso said he did this by mistake and sped up again when he realized he slowed down too much.
Even though there was no crash between Alonso and Russell, the stewards still gave Alonso a penalty because they thought what he did was dangerous.
Krack said, “It’s hard to accept a penalty when there was no crash, but we respect the decision. We tried our best to explain, but we can’t appeal without new evidence.”
Teams used to have 14 days to appeal, but now they only have 96 hours.
Also read: Alonso Penalized in Melbourne Race: Steward’s Decision Sparks Controversy
