George Russell’s ‘clear’ Fernando Alonso observation after seeing data from big Aus GP crash

George Russell says it was “clear” Fernando Alonso braked 100 metres before Turn 6 before getting back on the throttle with the two summoned to see the stewards after Russell’s late-race crash.

Chasing down Alonso in the final laps of the Australian Grand Prix, Russell was within DRS range for several laps as the wily Alonso kept him behind him.

George Russell’s take on ‘bit bizarre’ incident

Their battle came to an abrupt end when Russell crashed heavily at Turn 6 on the penultimate lap, and the Briton’s W15 came to a rest on its side.

Thankfully he was not hurt in the accident with Alonso finishing in sixth place under the Virtual Safety Car in a race in which neither Mercedes driver scored a single point.

Shortly after the celebrations in the parc ferme died down, the stewards announced Alonso and Russell had been summoned to their office.

The two, though, briefly spoke to the media beforehand with Alonso revealing he was having an issue with his car but that his only focus was on what was ahead of him.

As for Russell, he told Sky F1: “I mean, my take is I’ve gone off and that’s on me.”

“But,” he continued, “I was half a second behind Fernando 100 metres before corner and suddenly he came towards me extremely quick.

“I was right on his gearbox. I don’t know if he’s got a problem or not.

“We’re off to the stewards so that’s a bit bizarre in a circumstance like this.

“I got nothing more to say right now, I need to see everything. I’m just disappointed to end the race like that.”

But pressed on whether or not he felt Alonso had ‘brake tested’ him, he answered: “Well, it’s clear that he brakes 100 metres before the corner and then went back on the throttle again and took the corner normally.

“We’ve already seen the data of that so I’m not going to accuse him of anything until we’ve seen further.

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“But, you know, I was right behind him for many, many laps, I was half a second behind him approaching the corner and then suddenly, he slowed up very dramatically and got back from the power.

“I wasn’t expecting that and caught me by surprise. So that part’s on me, but it’s interesting that we’ve been called to the stewards so intrigued to see what is said.”

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