A hot topic featured throughout Thursday’s media sessions
ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix as drivers were quizzed about the incident
involving Fernando Alonso and George Russell last time out in Australia.
Russell had been using fresher tyres to hunt down Alonso in
the closing stages of the encounter when the Mercedes driver rapidly closed on
his Aston Martin rival at the apex of Turn 6, lost control, slid into the
barriers and then came to a rest in the middle of the track.
EXPLAINED: He made no contact with Russell – so why did
Alonso cop a 20-second penalty for his part in the crash?
Stewards opted to look into the situation post-race and,
after going through all the data and speaking with both drivers, determined
that Alonso had driven in a “potentially dangerous” manner by adjusting his
usual approach to the corner – handing him a 20-second time penalty as a
result.
As the drivers reconvened at Suzuka for this weekend’s
action, Russell and Alonso – alongside their rivals – were asked to revisit the
incident and share their final thoughts on it.
“I think it was obviously a bit of a strange situation that happened last week,” said Russell. “As I said at the time, [I was] totally caught by surprise
