Explaining the Fernando Alonso mess - why his penalty at the F1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix was overturned
Alonso was initially given a five-second time penalty for an incorrect starting position at the beginning of the race. When he served this penalty in the pits, it was initially ruled that me♐chanics began working on his car befꦰore the five-second penalty had elapsed - and this became the sticking point.
Aston Martin team 💞principal Mike Krack said: “The regulations say ‘you may not work on the car’. It is ambiguous. We have a clear procedure, 🐻a countdown.”
Alonso was critical: “On the second penalty, there was no in𒅌formatio🧸n at all.”
Alonso was given a 10-second penalty for the second🐷 transgression, when his mechanics began work on his car too early, dropping him out of his podium-finish and into fourth-place behind George Russell. But it didn’t last long.
The FIA rule says a car that has a time penalty can not be “worked on until the car has been s🥀tationary for the duration of the penalty”.
The disagreement over whether Aston Martin broke rules, and therefore Alonso deserved to be punished, essentia💫lly comes down to: 🐻what constitutes “worked on”.
The rear jack man pushed his jack under Alo🍃nso’s car before the five seconds had elapsed. But he did not raise the car.
The FIA then said to justify penalising Alonso again: “No part of the car could be touched while a penalty was being served as this would constitute working on the car. In this case, it was cle🦩ar, that the car was touched by the rear jack.🎀”
Aston Martin appealed. The FIA Stewards were shown seven previous examples of a car being🧸 touched, but not lifted, by a rear jack without being penalised.
Aston Martin argued that t🦂he FIA wording that “touching the car in any way” is 🍬wrong. Essentially, only working on the car should be outlawed during a time penalty.
The Stewards reviewed the appeal and decided that the wording in the FIA rules cannot be clearly agreed u൲pon.
So, Alons💮o was reinstated to his third-place finish!
Expect the FIA to re-word their rules to clar🧸ify this issue before the F1 Australian Grand Prix.
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports,꧒ to footba⛎ll, to F1.
