Formula 1: from the massive explosion of Verstappen’s car to the crash caused by Alonso

The accident was the Australian Grand Prixthird appointment of the 2024 season Formula 1, which ended with a double podium for Ferrari, with Carlos Sainz at the top and Charles Leclerc as his companion. However, the Scuderia’s 1-2 is not the best news of the day, having taken a back seat due to the early abandonment of Max Verstappen, who arrived on a streak of 19 wins in his last 20 races. Dutch suffered a fire in his Red Bull Due to a brake problem and after completing only four laps, he barely managed to return to the pits surrounded by a cloud of black smoke and some flames, just as a small explosion and pieces of his car occurred they flew into the air.

The speed of the Austrian team’s mechanics prevented the accident from becoming more serious, because they approached without wasting time with the fire extinguishers and put out the fire. And the current three-time champion managed to get out of the car without suffering any injuries.

The problem that caused Verstappen’s retirement arose as soon as the race began on the circuit Alberto Park from Melbourne, as the pilot himself later confirmed.

“My right rear brake had been locked since the light went out.then the temperature continued to rise until, of course, it caught fire,” the Dutchman explained.

Verstappen started in front, but within a few meters he lost first place to Sainz. Soon smoke could be seen coming out of the back of his Red Bull. The Dutchman tried to continue, but after a couple more laps it became clear that the problem was getting bigger, so he slowed down and managed to reach his team’s garage before the explosion.

“I had that moment after the first lap, but then the temperature was already rising more and more, so it only worked as a handbrake. But obviously I didn’t know that these things were happening. I just felt that the problem was that the balance of the machine was unbalanced. The team could see what was happening, but they didn’t know what caused it,” he said.

The retirement ended a run of 43 races in which Verstappen crossed the finish line. His last retirement occurred in 2022, again at the Australian Grand Prix, when a fuel leak prevented him from completing the test.

“We had many good races in a row, a lot of reliability. I knew the day would come when I would retire and, unfortunately, it has come,” lamented the champion.

“I’m disappointed that we couldn’t finish the race, because I think we would have had a good chance of winning. The balance was quite good on the previous lap and I felt confident and a good improvement compared to what I felt in racing. we did in training. But there are things you can’t control. Now it’s important to understand why what happened happened,” he added.

Alonso, accident with Russell and harsh sanction

Verstappen’s surprise abandonment wasn’t the only setback to mark the Australian event. Fernando Alonso AND George Russell They were involved in an accident which ended with the Briton out of the race, after having suffered a very strong blow against the containment barriers, and with the Spaniard heavily penalised: 20 seconds which dropped him from sixth to eighth place.

It was the penultimate lap, when Alonso defended sixth place under constant pressure from Russell. In the video of the sequence you can see how in round 6, the Mercedes it was approaching at full speed Aston Martin when the Spaniard seemed to slow down, which caused the Briton, surprised by the manoeuvre, to lose control of the car and end up against the wall. After the impact he remained crossed on the track, with the car tilted, and on the radio you could hear him desperately asking for the red flag.

“Red, red, red, red, I’m in the middle of the track. Red, red, red… I need help,” shouted the Englishman, trying to avoid a blow from his rivals still on the track. trace.

After a long audience with the stewards, drivers and teams, the FIA ruled that Alonso altered his driving style in an “extraordinary” manner and breached Article 33.4 of the sporting regulations, which states that “at no time may a car be driven unnecessarily slowly, irregularly or in a that could be considered potentially dangerous to others” . pilots or anyone else.” And he gave the Spaniard a 20-second penalty, which cost him two places in the final standings.

“My opinion is that I went off the track and it’s my fault, but I was half a second behind Fernando 100 meters before the corner and suddenly he came towards me very quickly. Suddenly he slowed down dramatically and accelerated again and “This took me by surprise,” Russell said.

“I don’t know if he had any problems or not. We’ll see the stewards, it’s a bit strange in a circumstance like this,” he added.

Alonso also told his version. “I was concentrating on what was happening in front of me and not behind me. I had some problems during the last 15 laps in the heat, in the grid. I struggled a bit at the end of the race. I saw Russell’s car, I knew it was it was closing in and I was already five or six laps from the DRS distance, so I was worried,” commented the Spaniard.

“I was just trying to stay in front. I wanted to maximize my exit speed from Turn 6 to defend myself from him. This is what any driver would do and it didn’t seem dangerous to me. In Formula 1, with more than 20 years of experience, changing the racing line , sacrificing entry speed for good corner exits is part of the art of motorsports.”

And he closes: “I’m a bit surprised by the penalty. It’s sad to receive it for having raced hard, but fair. However, I’m happy that George is okay. It wasn’t nice to see his car in the middle of the track.”