Former Haas team principal Günther Steiner said the stiff penalty handed down was “correct” as stewards were only looking at Fernando Alonso's “game” leading to George Russell's Australian Grand Prix crash.
Toward the end of the Australian Grand Prix, Russell was chasing Alonso in a battle for sixth place, but Alonso lost control of his Mercedes W15 and collided with a wall, causing the car to bounce and come to a halt in the center of the track. Race control ruled Alonso had more than played a role in the terrifying shunt, but Russell was lucky to escape unscathed.
Gunter Steiner believes Fernando Alonso's penalty was 'right'
After reviewing Alonso's data, stewards found that the Aston Martin driver released the throttle heading into that corner earlier than on any previous lap, and also braked and downshifted slightly at an unusual point. I decided that. Russell's increased approaching speed caused the driver of the Mercedes heading to the accident scene to be ejected.
Alonso complained of “battery and deployment” issues and claimed on the team radio after the accident that he was unable to use full throttle, but stewards decided to impose a drive-through penalty (20 seconds equivalent + three super licenses). Alonso's driving was judged to be “potentially dangerous” and he was awarded points. I have no complaints about Steiner.
“I would say a penalty needs to be a penalty,” he told Sky Sports F1.
“I haven't seen the data and without seeing the data it's hard to say what actually happened, but it seems like the stewards have come to the conclusion that some matches were played to take George away. .That the penalty was correct.”
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Russell was panicking over the team radio after the crash, stranded in the middle of the track, begging for the red flag to not come out. Instead, the race ended behind the virtual safety car.
Steiner also said he saw a “potentially dangerous” incident occurring there and believed the race should have been red-flagged.
“I think they were a little slow at the red flag stage, because the car was almost upside down and the red flag should have been given if the driver was still in the car,” Steiner said.
“So it could have been a potentially dangerous situation.”
Alonso's post-race sanction saw him drop from sixth to eighth place for the final Australian Grand Prix, behind Aston Martin teammate Lance Stroll and RB Yuki Tsunoda.
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