George Russell had no complaints about Fernando Alonso’s tactical slowing in the Japanese Grand Prix following the clash between the pair two weeks ago.
Alonso was given a drive-through penalty after the Australian Grand Prix for suddenly slowing in front of Russell on the penultimate lap of the race, leading to the Mercedes driver crashing out.Over the final stages of today’s race Alonso again appeared to deliberately reduce his speed while running ahead of Russell while the pair were separated by Oscar Piastri’s McLaren. However Alonso did so much more gradually, in order to allow the McLaren driver to use his DRS and increase his chances of keeping Russell behind him, and thereby help protect Alonso.
“It was smart from Fernando and I expected nothing less,” Russell told Sky afterwards. “That’s part of racing.”
Despite Alonso’s assistance, Piastri was unable to keep his position. He ran wide at the chicane on the penultimate lap and Russell overtook him.
The McLaren driver said he immediately understood what Alonso was doing when he gained on the Aston Martin. “I could tell by the way he was using the energy,” said Piastri. “I could tell he was trying to keep me in his DRS so George didn’t pass me and attack him.
“So I knew exactly what he was doing. But I just made a bit of a mistake into the last chicane, locked up a bit, and that was it.”
However Alonso, who strongly criticised his Australian Grand Prix penalty, did not confirm whether he had slowed down on purpose. “[With] Oscar, maybe he was not having the top speed to really attack me,” he said.
Russell ran out of time to catch Alonso after passing Piastri and finished 1.6 seconds behind his rival.
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Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
7th April 2024, 13:36
Maybe Alonso was referring to Piastri’s earlier attack, as he spent the whole of the last stint a second off Alonso and never managed to attack him properly.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
7th April 2024, 18:45
he could have made a daft move in to the back of Alonso and claimed brake testing, and gotten Alonso pushed out of the points.
EffWunFan (@cairnsfella)
10th April 2024, 1:06
I assume this was a witicism. Though it would be a whole lot funnier if in the event you are comparing Russell had actually claimed brake testing.
MadMax (@madmax)
8th April 2024, 6:24
Perfect example of legit smart defense vs dangerous erratic driving in Australia.
Denis (@denis1304)
8th April 2024, 7:04
LOL That is the 2nd time this tactic was used against Russell.
BasCB (@bascb)
8th April 2024, 14:51
At least this time Russel didn’t misjudge a move on the McLaren ahead so much as to crash though!
Dr.D
8th April 2024, 7:41
I would love to see a Verstappen Alonso pairing.
It might not be wise but what a show that would give every racing week.
Russel and Hamilton are a bit of an unknown ATM. So Alonso might be the second best driver in the current field.
Moshambles (@moshambles)
8th April 2024, 8:16
That’s how it’s done Fernando
Coventry Climax
8th April 2024, 10:32
The being smart is, alright, but the tactics certainly is not. That’s part of racing with DRS. Huge difference.
Alesici
9th April 2024, 6:49
Russell’s race engineer joked that “Alonso seemed to be having throttle problems again” on the radio after the race, which made Russell chuckle.