Fernando Alonso’s a centesimal profession podium end in Formula 1’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix has been reinstated after his Aston Martin squad received a proper to evaluation.
The Spaniard completed third behind Red Bull duo Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen on the Jeddah circuit on Sunday.
However, shortly after the chequered flag, the FIA introduced that Alonso had been handed a 10-second penalty for having not correctly served a five-second penalty he had been given for failing to line up inside his grid field earlier within the race.
This dropped Alonso from third all the way down to fourth behind Mercedes driver George Russell.
The penalty was given out after video footage of the incident appeared to point out the rear jack briefly touching the again of the automobile as Alonso waited for mechanics to start a tyre change.
After the choice, nonetheless, Aston Martin representatives visited the stewards to hunt a evaluation of the state of affairs as a result of they felt the foundations relating to the serving of penalties weren’t clear.
While the main target could have been on the jack hitting the automobile, the rules don’t explicitly state that mechanics can’t contact it.
Instead, Article 54.4 c) of F1’s Sporting Regulations states: “While a car is stationary in the pit lane as a result of incurring a penalty in accordance with Articles 54.3a) or 54.3b) above, it may not be worked on until the car has been stationary for the duration of the penalty.”
Aston Martin group principal Mike Krack stated he believed Aston Martin had adopted the foundations and didn’t work on the automobile till after 5 seconds had elapsed.
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin F1 Team, third place, on the rostrum
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images
He confirmed that sporting director Andy Stevenson had been in talks with race stewards concerning the matter as he advised that was a sure “ambiguity” concerning the particular wording of the rules.
“There have been discussions,” he stated. “There are various things within the sporting regs as a result of it says, ‘not working on the car.’
“I feel the time was clear, truly it was greater than 5 seconds, as a result of we took some margin.
“The rules say you cannot work on the car and, to our understanding, we have not worked on the car. But I think now this discussion is around the jack touching the car or not. And this is I think what is at the moment being clarified.”
The FIA was clear, nonetheless, that there was an acceptance amongst groups that it will deem it a breach of the foundations if mechanics did contact the automobile.
A press release from the governing physique stated concerning the stewards: “They stated that what was agreed at the SAC (Sporting Advisory Committee) meetings with the teams was that no part of the car could be touched while a penalty was being served as this would constitute working on the car.”
A couple of hours after the race, nonetheless, the FIA introduced that it had modified its thoughts as a result of Aston Martin stated that no such settlement was in place amongst groups.
A press release stated: “Having reviewed the brand new proof, we concluded that there was no clear settlement, as was advised to the Stewards beforehand, that may very well be relied upon to find out that events had agreed {that a} jack touching a automobile would quantity to engaged on the automobile, with out extra.
“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.”
