© Sam Bloxham for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix ltd.
After being penalised for “potentially dangerous” driving, Fernando Alonso says “it’s disappointing to get a penalty from the stewards for what was hard but fair racing”.
After Fernando Alonso received a 20-second penalty and 3 penalty points for “potentially dangerous” driving at the Australian Grand Prix, which resulted in George Russell crashing, the Spaniard gave his first reaction.
“George caught me quickly, I knew that he was coming,” Alonso said.
“Then he was in DRS range for five or six laps, so I was just doing qualifying laps to stay ahead.
“I wanted to maximise my exit speed from Turn 6 to defend against him. That’s what any racing driver would do, and I didn’t feel it was dangerous.
“It’s disappointing to get a penalty from the stewards for what was hard but fair racing. Still, I’m glad that George is okay. It was not nice to see his car in the middle of the track.”
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Later, on his social media channels, Alonso reiterated his disappointment with the penalty.
“A bit surprised by a penalty at the end of the race regarding how we should approach the corners or how we should drive the race cars.
“At no point do we want to do anything wrong at these speeds. I believe that without gravel on that corner, on any other corner in the world, we will never be even investigated.
“In F1, with over 20 years of experience, with epic duels like Imola 2005 [and] 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% every race lap and every corner, we save fuel, tires, brakes, so being responsible for not making every lap the same is a bit surprising,” he concluded.
