The two-time Formula 1 champion was defending himself against Russell from the Mercedes team in the final stages of the race, with Russell attacking with an advantage on the tires.
However, on the last lap, Russell lost control of his W15 at the exit of Turn 6, crashing heavily into the barriers and getting stuck in the middle of the track after Alonso seemed to significantly slow down, causing the Mercedes #63 to lose downforce.
Immediately after the race, Alonso insisted he did nothing wrong, telling Sky Sports F1: “Obviously, I was focused on what was in front of me and not what was behind. I had some issues with the battery and performance in the last 15 laps or so, so I was struggling a bit at the end of the race, but I couldn’t focus on the car behind me. But he’s okay, apparently. I saw the car and I was very worried,” Alonso added.
On the other hand, Russell did not want to draw conclusions and also admitted he should take some of the blame for not anticipating Alonso’s deceleration.
He said: “In my opinion, I went off track and that’s my fault. I was half a second behind Fernando 100 meters before the turn and suddenly he came towards me very quickly and I was right on his tail. I don’t know if he had any issues or not. He’s being called by the stewards, which is a bit strange in a situation like this. I have nothing else to say now. I need to review everything, but I’m just disappointed to finish the race like this. Of course, he braked 100 meters before the turn and then accelerated again and took the turn normally. We’ve seen the data of that,” the British driver pointed out.
However, Russell insisted he would wait for the stewards’ decision before accusing Alonso of any wrongdoing. He said: “I’m not going to accuse him of anything until we have more information. I was right behind him for many laps. I was half a second behind him before the corner. Then, suddenly, he dramatically slowed down and then accelerated again. I wasn’t expecting it, and it caught me by surprise. That part is my fault. It’s interesting that he was called by the stewards. I’m curious to hear what they have to say,” said the Mercedes driver.
Now, the stewards have announced their decision on the incident and stated in a post-race statement that Alonso was deemed to have driven in a “potentially dangerous” manner and in violation of Article 33.4 of the sporting regulations, which state that “A car should not be driven unnecessarily slowly, erratically, or in a way that may be considered potentially dangerous to other drivers or any other person.”
As a result, Alonso received a drive-through penalty, which translates to a time penalty of 20 seconds after the race, causing him to drop from sixth to eighth place in the race classification.
Additionally, the Aston Martin driver received three penalty points on his license.
