All’s well that ends well… for Fernando Alonso and Aston Martin. The Asturian driver had the penalty inflicted by the race stewards canceled at the end of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and is thus back in possession of the third place he deservedly conquered on the track, the second in a row after that of Sakhir.
Fernando, third at the end of the Jeddah race behind the Red Bull RB19s of Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen, had lost the podium at the end of the race due to a 10-second penalty imposed for not correctly serving the 5-second penalty received for not lined up perfectly within its box on the starting grid.
This result had dropped Fernando from third to fifth place, promoting George Russell to the podium and Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton to fourth.
The penalty was imposed on the Spaniard following the viewing of videos by marshals in which it seemed that the AMR23 number 14 was touched by the lift truck at the rear while the mechanics were intent on waiting for the 5″ penalty to pass.
Following the decision, some representatives of the Aston Martin team went to the stewards to ask for a review of the situation, believing that the rules relating to the application of penalties were not clear.
Although attention was focused on the trolley that touched the car, the regulation does not explicitly state that the mechanics cannot touch it during the penalty, but it states that they cannot work on the car.
Article 54.4c) of the F1 Sporting Regulations states that: “While a car is stationary in the pit lane following a penalty in accordance with Articles 54.3a) or 54.3b) above, it may not be worked until until the single-seater hasn’t been stationary for the entire duration of the penalty”.
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin F1 Team, 3rd position, on the podium
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images
Aston Martin team principal Mike Krack said he believed Aston Martin had complied with the rules and only worked on the car once the 5″ penalty had elapsed.
Andy Stevenson, the team’s sporting director, confirmed this version, stating that there is some ambiguity on the specific wording of the regulation: “There have been discussions, because the regulation says ‘don’t work on the car’. I think the timing has been clear We waited more than 5″ to take some margin”.
“The regulation says you can’t work on the cars and, as far as we know, we haven’t worked on the car.” The FIA has banked on the fact that the teams have agreed to consider it a violation of the rules for the mechanics to have touched the car.
A statement from the governing body said the stewards said: “They stated that it was agreed in SAC meetings with the teams that no part of the car could be touched while a penalty was pending, as this would constituted a work on the car”.
A few hours after the race, however, the FIA announced that it had changed its mind, because Aston Martin stated that no agreement had been found between the teams in this regard.
“After examining the new evidence, we concluded that there was no clear agreement, as had been previously suggested to the Stewards, that could be relied upon to determine that the parties had agreed that a jack touching a car is equivalent to working on the car, without anything else”.
“Under these circumstances, we felt that our original decision to impose a penalty on car 14 should be reversed and we did so accordingly.”
