Why Fernando Alonso won his penalty appeal at 2023 Saudi Arabian GP
Third again for Alonso at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix — but the result only came with an appeal
Alonso’s Aston Martin was on the front of the grid at Jeddah, right, but the driver was penalised for being too wide of his allotted starting point. Inset: George Russell’s third place was short lived
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Fernando Alonso took his Aston Martin to a second consecutive podium in Jeddah. Or did he? He was third past the flag. He stood on the podium and took part in the top-three finishers’ TV interviews. But as he was walking down the podium steps after spraying the fizzy drink, he was interrupted by an FIA official who informed him he’d received a 10sec penalty (for incorrectly serving a 5sec penalty) and that dropped him down to fourth, behind George Russell. The FIA man relieved him of the trophy.
The original penalty was for lining up slightly to the left of his marked grid spot. By maybe 6in. There was no obvious advantage to it. It wasn’t that he’d started ahead of the slot, merely to the side of it. The visibility from the cockpit of current F1 cars doesn’t allow you to see the lines once you get close to them, but rules are rules and the penalty was awarded soon after the race started – 5sec to be served at his pitstop, before any work could begin on the car.
Fortuitously, he was able to make his pitstop under the safety car and such was his gap over Russell behind that he was able to take the penalty and rejoin without losing a place. There were questions about whether it was valid to take the penalty under a safety car. It was. The team was told it was in the clear.
With the race in its closing stages, the observers, having looked at VAR footage, established that actually the rear jack had been in contact with the car before the 5sec had elapsed. The jack wasn’t being operated, but it was touching the car. That was enough to invalidate the serving of the penalty.
So just before the last lap, Alonso was asked if he could get the 4.7sec gap over Russell to more than 5sec, in anticipation of another 5sec penalty to be added. With a magnificent last lap, he did. He was then awarded the 10sec penalty.
Aston appealed on the grounds that this ruling was invalid because it had previously been agreed that the front jack is permitted to touch the car as it is used to guide the car’s position. As there were no words specifying front or rear jack, the penalty was accepted as invalid. Alonso’s third place was restored.
