George Russell has been ordered to 'take responsibility' for his terrifying crash in the Australian Grand Prix.
Russell smashed into a wall and his car flipped up on its side in the middle of the track after chasing down Fernando Alonso. The Mercedes star could be heard screaming for the race to be red-flagged on team radio, though all other drivers were able to avoid his car despite that not happening.
There was no contact between Russell and Alonso, but the stewards decided to hand the latter a 20-second penalty after finding he slowed down for the corner "slightly more than 100m earlier than he ever had going into that corner during the race".
But while the Spaniard was deemed to have driven "in a manner that was at very least 'potentially dangerous'", Russell's team principal Toto Wolff believes his driver was also partially at fault.
"You can hear the drivers, they obviously understand much more on a track that I've never raced on, and they're split. I think Fernando was aggressively defending by trying to take out the momentum before the corner, and maybe he's overdone it," Wolff said.
David Coulthard fires warning at Red Bull and Mercedes over Ferrari 2023 chances
"George was just trying to [set up] an overtake there, but [he] also takes a certain part of responsibility for having lost the car there. So what I make of this accident, I think in these high-speed corners, maybe you need to take a little bit of the karting philosophy.
"Killing speed before the corner to have a better exit. But who am I to say? I'm not sitting in that car, I've never been on that level, so I'm just an observer and I look at the data and throttle and brake input, and that was very different on that lap to all the others."
HAVE YOUR SAY! Should George Russell take some of the blame for his crash? Comment below.
Russell's car ended up on its side in the middle of the track after the incident (Formula 1 via Getty Images)Alonso was furious at being handed the punishment by the stewards in Melbourne. He insisted that he had intended to maximise his speed from the corner and that his racing was not dangerous.
"George caught me quickly; I knew that he was coming. 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," he said.
"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."
Alonso's team Aston Martin declined to appeal against the Spaniard's punishment. They claimed they 'fully supported' Alonso, but admited the absence of any new evidence meant they could not appeal.
"He is the most experienced driver in Formula 1. He has competed in more Grands Prix than anyone else and has more than 20 years of experience. He is a multiple world champion in multiple categories," team principal Mike Krack said.
"To receive a 20-second time penalty when there was no contact with the following car has been a bitter pill to swallow, but we have to accept the decision. We made our best case but without new evidence, we are unable to request a right of review."
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
