During yesterday’s Australian Grand Prix, the tides turned the moment McLaren-Honda’s Fernando Alonso clipped the back of Esteban Gutierrez’s Haas and went flying into the gravel trap.
The McLaren twisted and turned a few times mid-air before ending up on its side and smashing the barrier. The Spanish driver quickly got out, despite limited room, and moved away limping, though we’d imagine it was the violence of the crash that rattled his nerves the most.
That’s natural, as the two clashed just before the braking point, which means the cars were still traveling at speeds of over 300 km/h (186 mph).
Immediately after exiting what remained of his MP4-31, the Spaniard was greeted by a worried Esteban Gutierrez who later twitted about how thankful he was that nothing bad happened to Fernando.
In the aftermath of the crash, F1 stewards decided that nobody was to blame, as neither driver did anything wrong and it was simply a racing incident.
Looking at the footage, there doesn’t seem to be much wrong with Gutierrez’s racing line, so perhaps could argue that Alonso was a bit optimistic when he tried to overtake. In the end, it doesn’t really matter though as no one got hurt.