Martin Brundle scoffs at Fernando Alonso’s ‘saintly halo’ after ‘same playbook’ at

Martin Brundle says Fernando Alonso used “exactly the same playbook” on George Russell in Australia as he did with David Coulthard back at the Nurburgring in 2003.

That Sunday, McLaren driver Coulthard was fighting Alonso for fourth place only to have the Renault driver suddenly slow in the middle of the track forcing Coulthard to take avoiding action.

We’ve seen Alonso do that before in Nurburgring in 2003’
Crashing out of the Grand Prix, the Scot hinted at Alonso brake testing him as he went into the “middle of the circuit and lifted off the power”. And did so more than once during their tussle.

Alonso blamed car troubles with Coulthard saying to that: “I’m not trying to do the ‘he’s an idiot and I’m going to sort him out’ bit, because he may genuinely have been having problems, but it was inconsistent the problem he was having.”

Fast forward two decades and Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix saw a similar incident, this time Alonso initially blaming his “battery or deployment” as he braked earlier than he’d done previously into Turn 6 on the penultimate lap, which led to Russell suddenly losing downforce and crashing.

However, later speaking to the stewards, Alonso told them he changed his braking point as he wanted to get a better exit out of the Turn 6 corner.

They sanctioned him under Article 33.4 of the FIA Sporting Regulations for driving in a “manner which could be deemed potentially dangerous to other drivers”. Alonso was given a 20-second time penalty and three points on his super licence.

Brundle says it was the “same playbook” he used back in 2003.

“Alonso had gotten ahead of Russell due to a fast pit stop under the virtual safety car deployed when Hamilton’s Merc ground to a halt. Russell had caught back up and was shaping up for an overtake for several laps,” the former F1 driver wrote in his post-Australia column for Sky Sports.

Alonso claimed on the radio that he’d a throttle issue of some kind which is why he was slower than normal on the T6 corner.

“Russell was obviously pushing hard to be in range for a double dose of DRS assistance down the next two straights, and you never head into a corner making a speed reduction just in case the driver ahead has, or creates, an unexpected deceleration. You’re not a racing driver if you do.

“Alonso popped his saintly halo on and went to see the Race Stewards, explaining how he intended to approach Turn Six differently for a better exit speed which included decelerating 100 metres earlier, brushing the brake, and even a downshift.

“This is what caught Russell out. We’ve seen Alonso do that before in Nurburgring in 2003 against David Coulthard, and he had exactly the same playbook. Except this time, it caused a huge amount of costly damage for a team who could well be on his wish list.”