The stewards went on to state that telemetry showed Alonso lifted “slightly more than 100m earlier than he ever had going into that corner during the race”, as well as braking “very slightly at a point that he did not usually brake (although the amount of brake was so slight that it was not the main reason for his car slowing)” before downshifting at a different point to usual.

He then upshifted again and accelerated to the corner before lifting again to make the corner. Alonso explained that his plan was to slow earlier but that he had got it "slightly wrong" and “had to take extra steps to get back up to speed”, but the stewards said that this manoeuvre had “created a considerable and unusual closing speed between the cars”.

The stewards concluded that they did not have “sufficient information to determine whether Alonso’s manoeuvre was intended to cause Russell problems, or whether, as he stated to the stewards, that he simply was trying to get a better exit” but that, “whatever intent”, he had driven in a way that was “potentially dangerous” given the high-speed nature of that point of the track.