The 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix ended with a happy Sergio Perez atop the podium, Max Verstappen in a somewhat unfamiliar runner-up position and Fernando Alonso happily occupying the 100th podium of his Formula 1 career.
Alas, there was something rotten in the city of Jeddah.
Alonso made a dream start by taking the lead from Perez entering Turn 1 on the first lap, and lit a fire in the hearts of many fans in the process. Later that lap, the Spaniard was nailed for taking an incorrect position on the starting grid.
For clarity, Alonso was, in fact, in the proper grid position. However, he was improperly aligned in said position. A five-second time penalty followed; meaning Alonso’s next pit stop would see his car sit stationary for no less than five seconds before being served by the Aston Martin crew.
All is well here. Esteban Ocon was assessed a similar penalty in Bahrain.
We’ll ignore the hammer of officiating that came down on the Alpine driver after that…
Whatever the case, Alonso was able to serve his penalty at a rather opportune moment as his teammate Lance Stroll was made to stop on track due to a mechanical concern. The resulting safety car period left Alonso time to serve his penalty and complete his pit stop without losing track position.
Alonso rounded up his pit stop and penalty at 8:33 p.m. local time. Perez crossed the finish line to take the win at 9:25 p.m. local time. Word that Alonso may not have served his penalty correctly reached the stewards at 9:24 p.m., one minute before the finish of the race.
It must be noted that the Remote Operations Center (an off-site center that works as an advisory body for race control) initially determined that Alonso correctly served his penalty at 8:33 p.m.
A 51 minute gap between penalty served (and confirmed) and penalty questioned is unacceptable. A further 20 minutes followed before Alonso was handed a retrospective 10-second penalty, dropping him to fourth place and promoting George Russell to the podium.
Penalties happen in motorsport. We are all observing and partaking under a universal understanding that every team is pushing the rules and their respective as far as they possibly can to gain any possible advantage. The case of pushing the rules in question here?
The rear jack was engaged with Alonso’s machine before the five-second penalty had been served in full.
Yes, that appears the be the case from the video footage…
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