Timo Glock points finger at Fernando Alonso as F1 ace’s George Russell statement shot down | F1 | Sport

Former F1 driver Timo Glock believes that Fernando Alonso ‘knew what he was doing’ by braking early at turn six on the final lap of the Australian Grand Prix. The Spaniard’s actions caused George Russell to lose his Mercedes car, hitting the barriers and rebounding back onto the track in a terrifying position.

Alonso and Russell had been battling throughout the final stint of the race and the latter had closed to within half a second of the Aston Martin driver. On the final lap, the two-time world champion braked earlier than usual at the blind turn-six right-hander, catching the Mercedes racer off guard and sending him spinning out of the race.

Afterwards, both drivers visited the stewards and following an extremely lengthy review period, the FIA opted to hit Alonso with a 20-second time penalty and three points on his super license, claiming that his early braking constituted ‘potentially dangerous’ driving. 

Offering his analysis of Alonso’s creative defending, Glock told Sky Germany: “Alonso brakes very early and allows Russell to catch up. Alonso’s idea was to catch Russell off guard, slow him down, and then accelerate early to open a gap.

“It was so extreme that Russell didn’t expect it at all. He got way too close and lost downforce. Alonso extends his elbows and uses the grey area to gain an advantage. He already knows what he’s doing with his experience.”

In the immediate aftermath of the race, Alonso brushed off the idea that he had ‘brake-tested’ Russell. Taking to social media, he explained: “We never drive at 100% every race lap and every corner, we save fuel, tyres, brakes, so being responsible for not making every lap the same is a bit surprising.”

However, F1 analyst Bernie Collins does not believe that the Mercedes star was to blame for the incident. “There was a lift 100 metres earlier, a slight brake application as well, and a downshift,” she wrote on X. “So, 100 metres difference into a corner is pretty huge in F1 terms.

“We’d be telling drivers 10-metre differences if there was anything across drivers that they’d be trying to improve on, so 100 metres is a big, big difference in terms of an approach to a corner which obviously caught Russell off-guard.

“Russell himself [was] saying that maybe he could have reacted slightly better to it, but the result still remains where Russell is out. We obviously don’t have all the data that the FIA have. They’ve been very clear that they punished Alonso’s actions rather than the subsequent reaction of Russell.”