Lando Norris reckons George Russell could have prevented crashing out of the Australian Grand Prix and that Fernando Alonso was not at fault for the incident.
Russell crashed on the final lap in Melbourne, with his Mercedes hitting the barriers before ending up on its side in the middle of the track, leaving the British driver screaming in terror.
The British driver was pursuing Alonso at the time, and the Spaniard was subsequently penalised for causing the crash because it was determined that he brake-tested his rival.
Alonso denies this, and the incident has split Formula 1 fans and experts with the Aston Martin star’s tactics blurring the lines between strategic and dangerous driving.
Ahead of this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix, drivers were asked for their thoughts on the matter, with one of those to be against Russell being his fellow Brit Norris.
‘What Fernando did was strange, like, extreme, but I don’t think it’s even close to being considered as a brake test,’ the McLaren driver said.
‘Did he brake and downshift? I don’t know the exact details of it, but should it be a penalty in any way? No.
‘George, in my opinion, should have anticipated it. I don’t want to comment too much on it, but George had time to see what was going on.
‘I’m sure it’s always tougher being in the situation, so that’s why I don’t like commenting on it, but that kind of thing shouldn’t have been a penalty.
‘This was not a brake test. This was just trying to play very smart, Fernando being Fernando, and kind of being caught out by it.
‘But it was not aggressive, it was not like one metre in front of a car stopping. It was like 100 metres ahead and slowed down and just the approaching speed caught George off. But nowhere near should that be a penalty, I would say.’
Norris went on to say that if Russell had simply gone off the track and not crashed in such a dramatic way then Alonso would not have been penalized.
Lance Stroll, Oscar Piastri and Kevin Magnussen also agreed the penalty was too harsh, while Nico Hulkenberg and Charles Leclerc were among those to side with Russell, showing the grid’s clear divide on the matter.
Meanwhile, Russell doubled down on his belief that Alonso’s 20-second penalty was fair, saying in Suzuka: ‘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 too late and then next thing I know that I’m in the wall.
‘I think 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 of saying, “are you allowed to brake in a straight, are you allowed to slow down. Change gear, accelerate, do something semi-erratic?”.’
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