Fernando Alonso won 3rd place at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, splashed champagne with the Red Bull tandem Sergio Peres - Max Verstappen, talked excitedly about the 100th podium in his F1 career, but then there was a twist.
The stewards penalized the Prince of Asturias with 10 seconds, because they judged that he did not properly "serve" the five-second "penalty" due to the wrong position at the start. This moved him to 4th place, with XNUMXrd going to George Russell.
Aston Martin exercised its right to review the situation and succeeded in the appeal, as the stewards judged that the rear jack had touched his car before five seconds had elapsed.
But the FIA overturned that decision.
"The stewards were shown video of the last meeting and evidence of seven different cars being touched by the jack while serving a similar penalty to the number 14 car, and were not penalised. The team complained to us about the steward's decision that touching the car in any way, including with a jack, constitutes 'work' on the car. We assessed that the decision was irregular and canceled it," the FIA statement reads.
Bonus video:
