In the aftermath of the F1 drivers expressing varied opinions regarding a contentious incident, Mercedes’ Toto Wolff commented on the situation, emphasizing that George Russell bears some level of “responsibility” for his collision at the Australian Grand Prix.
The incident occurred as Russell attempted an ambitious maneuver on Fernando Alonso towards the end of the race. During the second-to-last lap at Albert Park in Melbourne, Alonso unexpectedly applied his brakes 100 meters sooner than he had on the preceding lap as he approached Turn 6.
He then sped up, only to brake again for the corner entry. This sequence of actions took Russell by surprise, leading to his crash into the barrier as he tried to evade Alonso.
The race officials decided to penalize Alonso with a drive-through penalty, which was later converted into a 20-second reduction in his race time, alongside adding three points to his super license. Russell voiced his concern, stating that not penalizing the Aston Martin driver would have set a problematic precedent.
As the Japanese Grand Prix loomed, opinions among the drivers regarding the punishment’s harshness were mixed. Nico Hulkenberg was particularly critical of Alonso, while Lando Norris suggested that Russell also had a part to play in the mishap.
Wolff, while refraining from assigning full blame to Russell, hinted at a shared culpability for the incident between Russell and Alonso. “You can hear the drivers, they obviously understand much more on a track that I’ve never raced on, and they’re split,” Wolff shared with reporters.
“I think Fernando was aggressively defending by trying to take out the momentum before the corner, and maybe he’s overdone it.
“George was just trying to [set up] an overtake there, but [he] also takes a certain part of responsibility for having lost the car there.
“So what I make of this accident, I think in these high-speed corners, maybe you need to take a little bit of the karting philosophy of killing speed before the corner to have a better exit.”
Leaning somewhat towards his own driver’s perspective, however, Wolff added a note of self-deprecation to his commentary: “But who am I to say?
“I’m not sitting in that car, I’ve never been on that level, so I’m just an observer and I look at the data and throttle and brake input, and that was very different on that lap to all the others.”
