This is the full breakdown of the key moments in that timeline: from Alonso lining up in second place to gaining, losing and then finally, and officially, regaining his 100th F1 podium.
Alonso commits his crime, but does he do the time?
20:03 – Alonso completes the formation lap and lines up second alongside the Red Bull of polesitter Sergio Perez. But when he comes to a stop on the grid, the front-left tyre is outside the painted box.
20:04 – The stewards note the two-time F1 champion’s AMR23 for an incorrect starting location.
20:05 – Alonso is accordingly placed under investigation for the startline procedure infringement.
20:06 – The Spaniard is handed a five-second penalty for an incorrect starting location. He would say of his indiscretion: “Maybe this is the cars or the halo – whatever it is interacting with the vision of how we position the car. But anyway, that was my mistake.”
20:30 – An energy recovery issue for Lance Stroll means he is forced to retire from the race. He pulls off the circuit at Turn 13, which brings out single and then double waved yellow flags.
20:31 – While the Canadian’s Aston is almost fully behind the barrier, a safety car is deployed. The FIA communicates that initial camera angles and the unclear position of Stroll’s stricken Aston meant a full safety car was deployed as the safest option with the information available.
20:33 – On lap 18 of 50, Alonso makes his sole visit to the pits to ditch his medium Pirellis for the hard compound tyre. The mechanics can only work on his car after the 5s penalty has been served. This leads to a total pitstop time of 8.56s.
20:33 – The Geneva-based Remote Operations Centre (akin to the Video Assistant Referee in football) observes the pitstop and initially concludes it is satisfied the 5s penalty has been correctly observed by the Aston crew.
20:35 – The FIA finally issues a bulletin to confirm the application of a 5s penalty for Alonso in response to him having been incorrectly positioned at the race start.
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin F1 Team, provisionally 3rd position, receives the trophy
Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images
Red Bull bags a 1-2, but who is third?
21:24 – On the final lap of the race, the stewards receive a report from race control to say that the ROC no longer believes the 5s pitstop penalty was served correctly. The stewards are duly asked to investigate.
21:25 – Perez wins the 2023 Saudi Arabian…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Motorsport.com – Formula 1 – Stories…