The biggest talking point of Friday at the Australian Grand Prix might not involve F1 at all, but instead an incident in the morning between two Formula 3 drivers.

Teen Alpine junior Nikola Tsolov was in hot water after he appeared to deliberately swerve into Alex Dunne, crashing the driver while he was on a warm-up lap.

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Dunne was swerving to warm-up his tyres when he impeded Tsolov, who reacted by driving alongside and turning right.

Dunne took evasive action but lost control and put his car into the concrete wall.

“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.”

Tsolov denied the move was intentional, saying: “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.

“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.”

He added: “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.”

Remarkably, stewards only handed him a three grid-place penalty, believing that his actions were unintentional.

“After examining video evidence and listening to both drivers and Team Representatives, the Stewards determined that the actions of Tsolov, while unintended, caused a collision that was completely avoidable and therefore imposed a grid drop in accordance with previous precedent,” an F3 statement said.

Dunne was measured in his response, saying that the he was initially at fault for blocking.

“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.”