F3 starlet handed three-place penalty after ‘incredibly dangerous driving’ in Australian Grand Prix practice… but the Alpine junior insists ‘I didn’t do anything strange – I was just on the racing line’

A Formula 3 driver was handed a grid penalty after an on-track collision sent their rival into the wall.

Alpine Formula 1 junior Nikola Tsolov was handed a three-place grid penalty and two license penalty points after a collision with Alex Dunne in practice at the Australian Grand Prix.

Footage of the incident that was shown on xsees both cars coming around a corner with MP’s Dunne ahead of Tsolov before the latter pulls alongside and there is a clear left to right move towards the Irish driver before contact.

Dunne then crashes into the racing barriers on the right of the track, pieces of his car flying onto the track, before the practice session was brought to a red flag with two and a half minutes still on the clock.

Replays suggest there was some weaving from Dunne ahead of Tsolov on the pitch before the collision.

“I don’t know what on earth he was thinking there,” said a Sky Sports commentator on the broadcast.

‘He’s gone straight into the side of Alex Dunne and put him straight into the barriers. It was incredibly dangerous driving.

‘I’m not too sure what on earth he was thinking there. Not too sure what it was about. Red flags are out and it’s an incident that I’m sure will be investigated.

‘Alex Dunne stops and he weaved in front of him (Tsolov) and Nikola Tsolov pushes him right into the barriers. That’s really not what you want to see.’

Reports suggest that there was an accidental obstruction of Tsolov moments before the crash, although Tsolov denied that the later collision was an intentional act.

However, the stewards’ report appeared to suggest that Tsolov’s left-to-right movement was unintentional but caused a collision that was otherwise ‘completely avoidable’, according to the F3 website.

The stewards claimed Tsolov: ‘stated that his lap was affected by car No. 9 (Dunne) and he wanted the driver to be aware of his presence and that he was prevented.

‘Car #25 (Tsolov) deviated from its normal racing line to drive close to car #9 to highlight his presence.

“Unfortunately, he misjudged this action and collided with car #9.”

Tsolov, meanwhile, told Feeder Series after the practice session that he was confused by Dunne’s ‘weaving’ and didn’t know how best to pass his rival.

“I was a little confused,” he began. ‘I arrived on a push lap and I think MP was weaving so I didn’t know where to go to get past him because he was on a cool lap or something.

‘I went to the left side and then I just felt a blow under my rear tyre. So I think it was just a bit of a misunderstanding, but nothing deliberate on either side. I just think it was a bit unfortunate.

‘I knew he was there, but then suddenly I just felt the blow. I didn’t do anything weird. I was right on the racing line.

‘I have no intentions against him. There’s nothing to be gained in training, so I wouldn’t do something like that.’

The F3 website also states that Dunne was also reprimanded for his role in the collision by the stewards, who reached the verdict that he ‘unnecessarily obstructed Tsolov’.