Fernando Alonso was in high spirits during the celebration on the podium: In the second race he had secured third place behind the two unbeatable Red Bulls for the second time. The fact that he lost the place and the 100th podium of his Formula 1 career for a few hours later was surprisingly relaxed for the 41-year-old Spaniard. “It doesn’t hurt that much,” he said on Sunday night at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit. “I celebrated with the trophy in hand and champagne. Now I’m down three points,” he said. Then, well after midnight on the Red Sea, there was a turnaround – the Spaniard got space and points back.
At the award ceremony, Alonso was cheered for third in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and celebrated by the fans and his team. But then he received a ten-second penalty for serving a five-second penalty when changing tires during the race, which the race stewards considered not to be in accordance with the rules.
“It was more of a Fia show than a big disappointment for us,” Alonso commented on all this with a smile on his face and added: “This penalty came so late, they would have had time to inform us. If I Had I known that, I might have increased the gap to 11 seconds.”
Then he would have remained third behind winner Sergio Perez and his Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen, but George Russell in the Mercedes moved up one position from fourth place – temporarily. It was Russell who appeared at the press conference.
The reason for the race stewards’ decision against Alonso was that, in their opinion, a mechanic from the Aston Martin racing team had jacked the Asturian’s car before the five seconds had elapsed during the pit stop during a safety car phase.
The team also spoke to the stewards, “because we didn’t understand this penalty,” stressed Alonso. He received the first penalty (five seconds) because his car – clearly visible – was not parked according to the rules in the marked starting box.
The talks and further action in the fight against the subsequent penalty paid off. The race stewards took them back after a reconsideration and new findings. Accordingly, there should not be an agreement between the teams, according to which touching a jack means that work is being done on the car and that rules are being broken.
