George Russell believes Fernando Alonso escaping punishment for his role in the former’s Australian Grand Prix crash could have “opened a can of worms” in Formula 1.
The Mercedes driver had been pursuing Alonso’s Aston Martin for sixth place in the closing stages at the Albert Park Circuit when he crashed out at Turn 6 on the last lap.
However, the FIA Stewards elected to penalise Alonso and handed him a 20-second time drop for braking “more than 100m earlier” than he had at other points in the race.
Russell admits he was caught unaware that he ended up tucked up behind Alonso going into the corner, having been looking down at his steering wheel to make changes.
“It was obviously a bit of a strange situation that happened last week,” Russell said. “As I said at the time it totally caught by surprise.
“I was actually looking at the steering wheel, making a switch change in the straight, which we all do across the lap.
“And when I looked up I was in Fernando’s gearbox and it was sort of too late. And then next thing I know that I’m in the wall.”
Alonso argued that his tactics to keep Russell behind were not dangerous and what each “racing driver would do”, a view reiterated by Aston Martin boss Mike Krack.
But Russell contends that the failure to hand Alonso a drive-through equivalent 20-second time drop could have set a precedent through both F1 and other categories.
“If it were not to have been penalised, it would have really opened a can of worms for the rest of the season and in junior categories,” he highlighted.
“Saying: ‘Are you allowed to brake in a straight? Are you allowed to slow down, change gear, accelerate, do something semi-erratic?’”
Nevertheless, Russell denies that the incident would leave resentment on either side, citing that the pair encountered each other in a coffee shop back between races.
“I don’t take anything personally what happened with Fernando and it probably had bigger consequences than it should have,” he said.
“But as I said, if it went unpenalised, can you just brake in the middle of a straight? I don’t know.”
He added: “We actually saw each other back home, just coincidentally bumped into each other in a coffee shop.”
“But as I said, it’s nothing personal. When the helmet’s on, we’re all fighters and competing, when the helmet’s off, you have respect for one another.
“So of course there’s a lot of emotions in the moment but I think we both move forwards from this.”
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