Webber: Alonso’s qualifying antics ‘a bit of meddling’

Fernando Alonso was not popular with Alex Albon in Baku qualifying, and Mark Webber felt Alonso had “got away with it” somewhat after his lock-up at Turn 15 went uninvestigated.

Albon was furious over team radio as it cost him and most of the field behind him the chance to better their laps towards the end of Q1, with the yellow flags coming out and scuppering opportunities to improve.

There was a scramble to get to the line in time after 2m 30s remained on the clock in Q1 when the red flags were waved for Lance Stroll’s crash, and Alonso was out relatively early in the queue.

He appeared to back up the field by going a fair amount slower than those in front of him on his out-lap, and in running too deep at Turn 15 had the effect – intentional or otherwise – of ensuring his passage through to Q2.

Albon made his feelings clear on team radio at the time, saying: “He needs to get penalised, this guy (Alonso), he has to. This is ridiculous. He was doing it the whole lap. He was driving slowly on purpose and then it was so obvious. How he went off the track was ridiculous.

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“He braked so early and then he just went off the circuit.”

Going onto the escape road, bringing out the yellow flags and meaning you can't get knocked out in Q1 #AzerbaijanGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/CYrINNB03a

— PlanetF1 (@Planet_F1) June 11, 2022

Former Red Bull driver Webber added that provoking such a reaction from someone as placid as Albon was unusual, and