F1 expert questions Alonso's 'extraordinary' act
Formula 1 champion Fernando Alonso has reservations over a penalty he was dished but his former strategist was surprised by the driver's action.
Moderated by Tomas Kauer 
Former Aston Martin race strategist Bernie Collins has questioned the legitimacy of Fernando Alonso's motives for his behaviour in the closing stages of the Australian Grand Prix.
On the penultimate lap of the race, the two-time Formula 1 champion slowed suddenly on the approach to turn six.
Immediately behind him, Mercedes driver George Russell lost control at turn six, skating through the gravel, before hitting the turn seven wall.
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Alonso explained that he had slowed to get a better corner exit while Russell said the move caught him off-guard and ultimately resulted in him crashing.
In the FIA stewards report, Alonso was acquitted of causing the crash but was pinged for a "potentially dangerous" act and altering his driving in an "extraordinary" way.
The report read in part: "At no time may a car be driven unnecessarily slowly, erratically or in a manner which could be deemed potentially dangerous to other drivers or any other person."
As a result, the Aston Martin driver was given a 20-second penalty and three penalty points on his licence. Alonso fell from sixth to eighth in the race result.
Taking to social media post-race, Alonso said he was surprised to be penalised.
"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," he wrote.
"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 (...) changing racing lines, sacrificing entry speed to have good exits from corners is part of the art of motorsport.
"We never drive at 100% every race lap and every corner, we save fuel, tyres, brakes, so being responsible for not making every lap the same is a bit surprising.
"We have to accept it and think about Japan, to have more pace and fight for positions further up the field."https://twitter.com/F1/status/1771795980867743858
Collins questioned the move by Alonso in a video posted to her social media channels.
She suggested the team would never ask a driver to drastically alter their approach to a corner in that manner and was surprised Alonso went out of his way to do such an act.
"There was a lift 100 metres earlier, a slight brake application as well, and a downshift. So, 100 metres difference into a corner is pretty huge in F1 terms," the Sky Sports F1 analyst explained.
"We'd be telling drivers 10-metre differences if there was anything across drivers that they'd be trying to improve on, so 100 metres is a big, big difference in terms of an approach to a corner which obviously caught Russell off-guard.
"Russell himself saying that maybe could have reacted slightly better to it, but the result still remains where Russell is out.
"We obviously don't have all the data that the FIA have. They've been very clear that they punished Alonso's actions rather than the subsequent reaction of Russell."
F1 returns in two weeks' time with the Japanese Grand Prix at the Suzuka Circuit.
