"You deserve a penalty for it": F1 pundit advocates in favor of Fernando Alonso's 20-second penalty in Australia

F1 pundit Glenn Freeman believes that the race stewards were justified in penalizing Fernando Alonso for 20 seconds for his involvement in George Russell's crash at the 2024 Australian GP.

The Aston Martin driver was defending his P6 from the young Brit in the race's final laps. However, the Mercedes driver lost control of his W15 and crashed into the wall on the penultimate lap of the race.

The FIA race stewards gave Fernando Alonso a 20-second penalty for slowing down before Turn 6 as they described the move as potentially 'dangerous'. On his social media, The Race pundit Glenn Freeman defended the 20-second penalty and gave his take on the Spaniard's defense:

"Alonso’s right that what he was *trying* to do is one of those accepted tricks that many drivers deploy in battle. But when you slow so early (and so much) that you have to re-accelerate before the corner, you’ve messed up. And you deserve a penalty for it."

On the team's official website, Aston Martin team principal Mike Krack mentioned that the penalty was 'surprising' for them as Fernando Alonso was defending his position from George Russell but concluded that he 'accepted the penalty'.

Fernando Alonso questions the post-race penalty in Melbourne

Fernando Alonso has stated that he was a 'bit surprised' by the post-race penalty as he believed he didn't do anything wrong in his defense against George Russell.

On the social media platform, X, the two-time world champion expressed that he was left puzzled by the decision as he cited examples of the previous iconic battles throughout his career. He said:

"A bit surprised by a penalty at the end of the race regarding how we should approach the corners or how we should drive the race cars. At no point do we want to do anything wrong at these speeds. I believe that without gravel on that corner, on any other corner in the world, we will never be even investigated.

"In F1, with over 20 years of experience, with epic duels like Imola 2005/2006/ Brazil 2023, changing racing lines, sacrificing entry speed to have good exits from corners is part of the art of motorsport."

The 42-year-old concluded by accepting the penalty and shifting his focus towards the Japanese Grand Prix in a couple of weeks. It will be interesting to see if he would make any changes in his driving and particularly his defending after the incident in the upcoming races.