Alonso was handed a post-event drive-through, which turned a 20-second time penalty, for the way in which he slowed up Russell as they battled for sixth place.
The FIA race stewards deemed that Alonso had pushed in a “probably” harmful method by slowing 100-metres sooner than regular, which they assume contributed to Russell shedding management behind him and crashing his Mercedes out of the race.
Whereas the way of Alonso’s sanction stunned lots of people, Hulkenberg thinks that the Aston Martin driver was truly unsuitable to have pushed in the way in which he did.
Requested by Motorsport.com for his views on the incident forward of the Japanese GP, Hulkenberg mentioned: “My private view, once I noticed all of it, I wasn’t very impressed with Fernando’s techniques there to be trustworthy.
“Melbourne, in any case, it is sort of a road circuit. It is fairly slender there, we method the nook with 260-270km/h, and it is a blind exit. And if, for no matter motive, the flag system or somebody is late, and one among us would have T-boned George, I feel the end result and the way in which he feels may need been additionally fairly completely different.
“So I feel while that tactic is kind of a typical one in F1, in that specific nook, with that velocity, with a blind exit, I feel it is the unsuitable nook to do it – and produced fairly a harmful scenario.”
Nico Hulkenberg, Haas F1 Workforce, George Russell, Mercedes-AMG F1 Workforce
Picture by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Photos
Whereas Hulkenberg is conscious of the defensive techniques drivers have to do, he thinks that some ideas must be given about the place such strikes are made – as he mentioned the configuration of Flip 6 probably wanted taking a look at.
“Like I mentioned, I feel it is the unsuitable velocity vary, the unsuitable nook,” he mentioned. “I feel additionally the [speed] change, the deceleration, was fairly a giant delta, clearly. So yeah, it is easy to overreact, and lose the rear within the automobile, prefer it occurred to George.
“Clearly we have seen that nook final yr, additionally with Alex [Albon] who crashed there, that barrier places the automobile again on the circuit.
“I am certain we have to take a look at that and alter one thing there for the long run, as a result of that is actually not good whenever you come across the nook, and you’ve got a automobile in the midst of the observe.”
Hulkenberg expects the Alonso incident to be mentioned on the Friday evening F1 drivers’ briefing in Japan, as he questioned the consistency of feedback made.
“What I additionally do not perceive is correct after, on the radio, he is speaking about throttle points – like throttle caught, or not caught,” added Hulkenberg. “However then afterward, he does not discuss it anymore.
“He simply talks about that it is normal process and tactic. So that does not align and he appears to have modified his opinion, there. However like I mentioned, I wasn’t very impressed with that personally.”
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin F1 Workforce, talks to the media
Picture by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Photos
Alonso expressed his disappointment after the Australian GP on the approach during which he was punished for his driving.
“I wished to maximise my exit velocity from Flip 6 to defend in opposition to him,” he mentioned. “That is what any racing driver would do, and I did not really feel it was harmful.
“It is disappointing to get a penalty from the stewards for what was arduous however honest racing. Nonetheless, I am glad that George is okay. It was not good to see his automobile in the midst of the observe.”
