Alonso should know by now that you're only allowed to drive according to strict FIA guidelines. There's no "racing" in F1, only passing cars that behave predictably at all times on the approved DRS straits.

I haven't seen the race or incident yet.

But that's some big rookie iracing energy from Russell. Blaming the other car for braking too early.

Edit:

I have since watched the incident. My original thought stands. What a bullshit penalty.

I can see this being a controversial penalty considering a part of the blame does fall on Russell for not reacting to Alonso slowing down (checking from the driver cam he seems to have plenty of time to react), but overall I think Alonso does deserve the penalty. I'm not sure what he was trying to accomplish but his deliberate actions cost Russell the race.

I know all of the Alonso fans are in a tizzy over this, but it was an appropriate penalty.

Everyone upset seems to be buying the line that he was taking the corner slower to get a better exit. That would be late apexing. When you do that, you brake LATER and turn into the corner LATER (at a sharper angle), then apply throttle EARLIER. Alonso's actions are inconsistent with an intent to get a better exit.

He broke earlier. Then he sped up. He entered the corner on the usual line with extra traction available. Then he jabbed the brakes mid corner. If he had taken the corner at normal speeds, that would have absolutely upset the car, so this was PLANNED. Immediately after jabbing the brakes he is back on throttle and accelerating out of the corner.

I believe his intention was to force Russel to react to his behavior, then accelerate away while Russell reacts to him braking, to build an extra bit of gap to neutralize the drs advantage.

This was absolutely a brake check. Alonso has done this many times before, and he usually gets away with it because it is on the line or he has a plausible excuse for his actions. This time he screwed up and took it over the line.

You know his intentions here because he was immediately on the radio making up an excuse for his actions. Except that excused didn't jive with the telemetry so he had to give the stewards a DIFFERENT excuse which still isn't plausible (see late apex above).

This penalty isn't punishing him for driving defensively. It won't result in drivers getting penalties for parking their car on the apex. This penalty was about erratic driving that compromises the safety of other cars and drivers on the track. The outcome here is direct evidence of the safety concern.

As much as you may not like Russel or question his skills, ask yourself what would have happened to other drivers in this situation? I would argue 2/3 of the other drivers would have bottled it the same way he did.

If you look at the throttle trace this is a slam dunk erratic driving penalty. Brake checking is not tough racing, it is dirty racing.

For me this penalty was a bit of a grey area rather than slam-dunk, though I'm fine with it in the end (and I'm a huge Alonso fan). I can see how it qualifies as erratic, though we've seen similar moves before go unpunished and it also looks like Russel is far enough back to have time to react.

I'm torn on this because while driver safety is important I'd also be loathed to lose even more fighting tools, and some amount of trickery like this is a part of duels in racing that I enjoy. Far more than the usual fare of DRS passes on a straight, at least.

Still, the grey area around it is murky waters and while Fernando is usually a master at threading that needle it's probably fair to say he overstepped the line this time.

Mates, I really find it hard to trust the FIA with no transparency.

This was a racing incident at most. The official writeup of Alonso's actions with telemetry is very plain, lifting up off the gas was the primary reason for slowing. Ol George over there didn't know what to do other than keep the pedal to the rock.