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A Formula 3 driver will likely find himself slapped with a hefty penalty after he appeared to deliberately shove a rival into the wall late in practice at Albert Park.
Alex Dunne was weaving to warm up his tyres when 17-year-old Nikola Tsolov – a member of the Alpine F1 team’s junior driver academy – came up behind him on a fast lap.
Dunne’s weaving heavily baulked Tsolov and forced him to slam onto his brakes. The Bulgarian responded by pulling alongside and swerving into Dunne’s front-left wheel, pushing him into the concrete wall on the right.
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“I don’t know what on earth (Tsolov) was thinking there,” commentator Chris McCarthy said.
“That was incredibly dangerous driving … I’m not too sure what on earth that was all about.
“I think the pictures almost spoke for themselves there.”
Tsolov later denied deliberately crashing into the 18-year-old Irishman.
“I was a bit confused. I arrived on a push lap and I think (Dunne) was weaving, so I didn’t know where to go to get past him because he was on a cool lap or something,” Tsolov told Feeder Series.
“I went to the left side and then I just felt a hit under my rear tyre. So I think it was just a bit of a misunderstanding, but nothing intentional from any side.
“I think it was just a bit unfortunate.”
Tsolov said he knew Dunne was there, but bizarrely claimed to be on the racing line.
“I knew he was there, but then I suddenly just felt the hit. I didn’t do anything strange. I was just on the racing line.
“I have no intention against him. There’s nothing to win in a practice session, so I wouldn’t do something like that.”
Dunne was taken to the medical centre, but was cleared of any injury.
The Irishman took responsibility for the initial baulk on Tsolov, but said everything after that was an “overreaction”.
“At the beginning it was my mistake. I was weaving, warming the tyres to set up my next push lap. I didn’t see him behind me and I think I blocked his lap,” he said.
“After that, I pulled out of the way and then I don’t know if he got annoyed or whatever, but then I think he ended up turning into me, putting me in the wall.
“I wasn’t told he was there, but it’s my fault, not the team’s. I should be looking in the mirror.
“I guess he got annoyed and overreacted a little bit.”
The crash happened with barely three minutes left on the clock, meaning the session would not be restarted.
F3 are competing on the undercard to the F1 grand prix. It was the only practice session the junior category had on the Albert Park circuit before qualifying on Friday afternoon.
