The FIA stewards have summoned Fernando Alonso and George Russell to their office as part of their investigation into the Mercedes drivers’ crash on the penultimate lap of Sunday’s Australian GP.
The two drivers were fighting for P6 and running in close contention to each other when, with Russell chasing his Aston Martin rival on fresher tyres, when they approached Turn 6.
Entering the corner complex, the gap between the two cars suddenly closed, with Russell losing control of his W15 – likely as a result of a loss of downforce caused by Alonso’s car.
The Briton veered off into the gravel on the left hand side of the track before clouting the wall and rebounding onto the middle of the track.
Russell called the incident “bizarre” and wasn’t sure why the gap between himself and Alonso suddenly closed as they approached the corner, but the Mercedes driver steered clear of accusing the Spaniard of brake testing him.
"My take is that I have gone off, and that is on me, but I was half a second behind Fernando 100m before the corner and then suddenly he came towards me extremely quick and I was right in his gearbox," Russell told Sky F1.
"I don't know if he has got a problem or not. We are off to see the stewards so that is a bit bizarre in a circumstance like this. I've got nothing more to say right now, I need to see everything, I am disappointed to end the race like that."
Pressed on whether Alonso had deliberately put him at risk, Russell noted that Alonso had braked early for the corner but was uncertain as to the reason why.
"It is clear that he braked 100m before the corner and then went back on the throttle again and took the corner normally,” he explained.
"We've already seen the data of that so I am not going to accuse him of anything until we've seen further.
"But I was right behind him for many, many laps and I was half a second behind him approaching the corner and then suddenly he slowed up dramatically and got back on the power.
"I wasn't expecting it, it caught me by surprise. That part is on me, but it is interesting that we've been called to the stewards so I am intrigued to see what they have to say."
Big impact for George Russell
Good to see the Mercedes man walk away unscathed from this crash #F1 #AusGP pic.twitter.com/Jsq6RZ1UBS
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 24, 2024
As for Alonso, the two-time world champion alluded to a battery issue when queried on his unusual braking.
"I was focusing in front of me and not behind. I had some issues for the last 15 laps or something on the battery, on the deployment," Alonso told Sky Sports F1. "I was struggling a little bit at the end of the race, but, I cannot focus on the cars behind. But he's okay, apparently. I saw the car and I was very worried.
"I knew that he was coming and he was on the DRS distance for already five or six laps. So yeah, it was very close. I was just doing qualifying laps and trying to maximise the pace. It was not an easy race, not an easy weekend in general in terms of pace.
"Today we got lucky with the strategy and when Lewis was off and that virtual safety car but we cannot hide that the pace was difficult the whole weekend."
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