Lando Norris has jumped to the defence of Fernando Alonso after he was slapped with a penalty in Melbourne for his involvement in George Russell's crash.
The Mercedes driver was following Alonso on the final lap of the Australian Grand Prix when he lost control of his cat at Turn 6.
Russell smashed into the barrier with his W15 left on its side in the middle of the track and the British racing driver screamed for an immediate red flag in his cockpit out of fear of being hit by an oncoming car.
The incident was referred to the race stewards, who looked into Alonso's data as he appeared to drastically lose speed on entry to the corner before Russell.
Lando Norris feels George Russell should have been more aware
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The Spaniard was ultimately deemed at fault for decelerating early and given a 20-second time penalty that dropped him from sixth to eighth.
Alonso was surprised by the decision from the race stewards and insisted it won't change how he defends his position in the future.
But the incident has divided the F1 paddock with Russell of the mind that a penalty was the only option for Alonso.
"Obviously a bit of a strange situation what happened last week," Russell said.
"Totally caught by surprise. I was actually looking at the steering wheel making a switch change in the straight, which we all do across the lap, and when I looked up I was in Fernando's gearbox and it was too late and then next thing I know that I'm in the wall.
"I think if it were not to have been penalised it would have really opened a can of worms for the rest of the season and in junior categories of saying 'are you allowed to brake in a straight, are you allowed to slow down. Change gear, accelerate, do something semi-erratic?'"
However, Norris held the view that Russell should have been more aware of his surroundings.
"It shouldn't be a penalty," Norris said.
George Russell went off the track after following Fernando Alonso
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"It shouldn't be a penalty," Norris said.
"What Fernando did was odd. Like, so extreme. But I don't think it's even close to be regarded as a brake test.
"Did he brake and downshift? I don't know the exact things of it. But should it be a penalty in any way? No. George, in my opinion, should have seen it coming. George had time to see what was going on, you know?"
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He added: "I'm sure it's always tougher being in the situation, that's why I don't like commenting on it.
"This was not a brake test. This was just trying to play very smart, Fernando being Fernando. Yeah. And kind of being caught out about it.
"It was not aggressive, it was not like one metre in front of a car stopping. It was like 100 meters ahead, slowed down and just the approaching speed caught George off. Nowhere near should that have been a penalty, I would say."