F1 News: Fernando Alonso BLASTED for major crash by rival driver

Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin, 2024, generic — Photo: © IMAGO

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F1 star BLASTS Alonso for major crash

Nico Hulkenberg criticises Fernando Alonso's defensive manoeuvres that led to a huge crash at the Australian Grand Prix

Yara Elshebiny

Friday 5 April 2024 09:58

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A rival driver has strongly criticised Fernando Alonso's defensive manoeuvres that led to a huge crash at the last F1 race.

The Australian Grand Prix saw a controversial incident between the Aston Martin star and Mercedes' George Russell as they clashed while fighting for sixth place. The resulting crash took Russell out of the race, and left in a dangerous situation in the middle of the track.

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The incident between Alonso and Russell occurred at Turn 6 as the two drivers fought for position. The wily Spanish veterean braked earlier than usual, attempting to force Russell to back out. The unexpected manoeuvre caught Russell off guard, though, causing him to lose control and crash his Mercedes.

Alonso was slapped with a 20-second penalty after the incident, and the stewards also docked him points on his FIA Super Licence.

F1 star 'not very impressed' by Alonso

Nico Hulkenberg had his say on the incident

Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg wasn't shy about sharing his opinion and came out publicly to criticise the Spaniard's tactics.

Speaking to Motorsport, the German said: "My personal view, when I saw it all, I wasn't very impressed with Fernando's tactics there to be honest.

"Melbourne, after all, it's kind of a street circuit. It's quite narrow there, we approach the corner with 260-270km/h, and it's a blind exit. And if, for whatever reason, the flag system or someone is late, and one of us would have T-boned George, I think the outcome and the way he feels might have been also quite different.

“So I think whilst that tactic is quite a common one in F1, in that particular corner, with that speed, with a blind exit, I think it's the wrong corner to do it - and produced quite a dangerous situation."