Fernando Alonso

Despite finishing in P3 in Sunday's Saudi Arabian Grand Prix at Jeddah Corniche Circuit — and partaking in the podium celebration along with Sergio Pérez and ...

And as Alonso himself stated after the Grand Prix, “[w]hen you have 35 laps to apply the penalty and you wait until after the podium, there is something wrong in the system.” “In the circumstances, we considered that our original decision to impose a penalty on Car 14 needed to be reversed and we did so accordingly.” This was likely the correct result, but the bigger question might be this: Why did it take so long for Alonso and Aston Martin to be told this was even a possibility? While the team believed they were “in the clear,” they wanted to be as safe as possible. The race went on, and Alonso maintained his spot in third place behind the Red Bull duo. When a safety car came out after his teammate Lance Stroll suffered a failure, Alonso served that five-second penalty during his pit stop.

The decision elevated George Russell into third, giving Mercedes a reason to celebrate after a tough start to the year, but not before Alonso had been allowed ...

It added: "In this case, it was clear, that the car was touched by the rear jack. "If he was third in the race he should enjoy the podium and not me, I feel sorry for George, for Mercedes sponsors, for George's fans." "Today is not good for the fans," the Spaniard said.

Fernando Alonso is reinstated to third place in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix after stewards overturn their earlier decision to demote him.

It's good that there is a rule in place, but at the same time, sometimes it's like luck, to be honest, where you position yourself." Perez said: "I just overdid it and I stopped too early, but you have no idea when you are in the car. But a 10-second is too extreme in that case again." "At the end of the day, we've got to stick within the guidelines. It is a bit sad for the FIA." Alonso added: "Today is not good for the fans.

Fernando Alonso has been reinstated to third position at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix to cap a farcical couple of hours which followed the podium ceremony.

"This topic will therefore be addressed at the next Sporting Advisory Committee taking place on Thursday, 23 March, and a clarification will be issued ahead of the 2023 FIA Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix. An FIA statement said: "The request to the Stewards for review of the initial decision (Document 51) was made in the last lap of the race. The subsequent decision of the stewards to hear and grant the Right of Review by the Competitor was the result of new evidence regarding the definition of 'working on the car', for which there were conflicting precedents, and this has been exposed by this specific circumstance.

Fernando Alonso was handed back the 100th podium of his Formula One career, and second in two races for Aston Martin, after a U-turn by officials hours ...

“I am happy in the end with the result tonight and our second podium. They had enough time to really inform about the penalty. If I knew that, maybe I open 11 seconds to the car behind. What a team. What a moment. Alonso, who had celebrated on the podium before the demotion, had criticised the FIA for the delay in imposing the second penalty more than 30 laps after his pitstop.

Fernando Alonso won the 100th podium of his Formula One career at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on Sunday, but the result was only confirmed hours after the ...

The result leaves Alonso third in the driver standings on 30 points behind Verstappen and Perez. “I am happy in the end with the result tonight and our second podium,” said Alonso. [said](https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.fia-to-issue-rule-clarification-ahead-of-australian-grand-prix-after-alonso.5FUrjmGaw3vY9vQ3tX3zmP.html) that a request to review the 10-second penalty was made in the final lap of the race and that the definition of “working on the car” will be clarified ahead of the Australian Grand Prix next month. “I was on the podium, I did pictures, I took the trophy, I celebrated with champagne and now I have apparently three points less – I don’t have 15, I have 12,” Alonso [Fernando Alonso](http://www.cnn.com/2023/03/02/motorsport/fernando-alonso-formula-one-aston-martin-spt-intl/index.html) won the 100th podium of his Formula One career at the [Saudi Arabian Grand Prix](http://www.cnn.com/2023/03/19/motorsport/sergio-perez-saudi-arabia-grand-prix-spt-intl/index.html) on Sunday, but the result was only confirmed hours after the end of the race when officials reversed a 10-second penalty. That meant the penalty had not been served correctly and Alonso was given a further 10-second sanction, promoting Mercedes driver George Russell to third place at the end of the race.

There was a highly unusual end to the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on Sunday as Fernando Alonso had his podium taken away from him, and then given back again.

It was certainly a relief for the Aston Martin mechanic who was initially judged to have touched the car whilst the first penalty is being served. It is the latest in a long line of events where the FIA have created confusion and taken a long time to make decisions that affect the final positions of the race. Suddenly, it seemed Alonso would have to wait for the 100th podium of his career.

Fernando Alonso's 100th F1 career podium will be remembered for the bizarre sequence of events which followed it. Here's how it all unfolded and why there ...

Aston Martin was granted its right to review after sending both the minutes of the SAC meeting and video evidence of seven different instances where a jack had touched a car during a penalty similar to the one Alonso served during the race which were not penalised. It was hoped this had cleared the matter up, but based on its own interpretation of what was actually written in the rules and backed up by previous examples of time penalties being served at pit stops, Aston Martin did not believe that a jack touching the car constituted work taking place. It was only on the final lap that race control had shared a new report with the stewards stating that ROC now did not think the penalty had been properly observed and requesting a full stewards' investigation. Alonso served his penalty at his pit stop on lap 18, during a safety car period triggered by the retirement of his teammate Lance Stroll. F1's sporting regulations dictate that five-second time penalties must be served at the driver's next pit stop, with the clock starting once the car has become stationary and mechanics waiting five seconds before starting work on the car. A yellow line is painted to the right-hand side of the white grid markings to give drivers a visual reference of how far forward they are in their slot, but lining up between the lines relies entirely on the driver's approach to their position.

The race at Jeddah was won by Red Bull's Sergio Pérez ahead of his teammate Max Verstappen but Alonso delivered another superb drive to seal third for Aston ...

The FIA admitted the events had exposed an ambiguity in the rules that had to be addressed. A clarification will then be issued before the Australian Grand Prix which is held in Melbourne in two weeks. They awarded a 10-second penalty long after Alonso had already celebrated on the podium, dropping him from third to fourth.