Formula One: Fernando Alonso stripped of podium after incorrectly serving time penalty

Red Bull driver Sergio Perez of Mexico pours champagne on Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso at the podium after the Saudi Arabia Formula One Grand Prix. Alonso was later stripped of third place. Photo / Getty Images

Fernando Alonso’s joy has turned to heartbreak in an instant in Jeddah on Monday morning after being stripped of his 100th podium finish for failing to serve a 5-second penalty correctly.

Alonso briefly became the sixth driver in the history of the sport to reach a century of podiums, after getting an outstanding start from P2 to leapfrog Red Bull’s Sergio Perez and lead the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix for a brief, glorious moment as fans got a glimpse at what a competitive 2023 could possibly look like.

It was, however, short-lived, with Alonso handed a 5-second time penalty for lining up outside of his grid box, ending up about half a tyre’s width to the left of his P2 spot.

To be served at his next pit stop, the penalty came under a safety car brought about by Aston Martin teammate Lance Stroll’s retirement.

The pace of the Aston Martin kept Alonso in a strong position for the rest of the race, coming home third behind a victorious Sergio Perez, as well as a surging Max Verstappen who charged from 15th on the grid to second.

After the race, Alonso tore into the FIA for the length of time it took them to give the second penalty.

“I think it is more FIA, poor show today,” he said.

“You cannot apply a penalty 35 laps after the pitstop.

There was 60% of the race to review Alonso’s stop and inform of a penalty.

And like Ocon in Bahrain a debate as to whether touching the car should be counted as working on the car.

Maybe in the case of an in race time penalty, teams can’t leave garage until time served.

— Will Buxton (@wbuxtonofficial) March 19, 2023

“They had enough time to inform about the penalty because even if I knew that maybe then I open up 11 seconds to the car behind.

“I know the team is trying to review it with the stewards now because we didn’t understand fully the second penalty.

“I don’t care that much as I have celebrated and now I have three points less.

“I was on the podium, I did pictures, I took the trophy, I celebrated and now I have apparently three points less - I don’t have 15, I have 12.”

With Alonso closely followed by the Mercedes pair of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton, the stewards’ ruling that the 5 second penalty had been incorrectly served put him in serious danger of handing Mercedes their first podium finish of the year.

The officials ruled that, while serving the penalty, the rear jack to lift Alonso’s car up for the tyre change had made contact with the AMR23 before the five-second penalty had been completed.

The regulations state that cars must wait for the duration of the penalty before touching the car if the time penalty is served in a pit stop.

DRIVER STANDINGS

1-2 on track, 1-2 in the championship for Max and Checo 👏#SaudiArabianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/AUqyWS1OXK

— Formula 1 (@F1) March 19, 2023

Asked about how he made the first mistake on the grid, Alonso said he wasn’t sure.

“I need to review obviously; I made a mistake,” he said.

“When they told me five seconds penalty, I said okay, I need to drive a little bit faster to make (up) those five seconds.

“But I need to review.”

Despite the result, Alonso was content with P4.

“Amidst everything, I leave with a good feeling,” the Spaniard said.

“A shame not to take the podium.”

With a similar incident happening to Alpine’s Estaban Ocon in Bahrain in the first race of the season, the precedent had been well established for Alonso to be handed an additional 10-second time penalty, dropping him from P3 to P4.

Outside of Alonso’s extended wait for a hundredth podium, it was another story of Red Bull domination as Sergio Perez led the vast majority of the race to bring home a 1-2 finish for the Milton Keynes-based team.

The race saw another moment of animosity between the two Red Bulls in the dying stages, with Verstappen asking about the fastest lap, then held by Perez.

“We’re not concerned about that at the moment, Max,” replied an engineer.

“Yeah, but I am,” came the reply from the cockpit of the world champion.

Carlos Sainz took sixth with his Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc seventh after starting 12th as a penalty for changing components in his power unit.

Alpine rounded out the back of the points with Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly finishing P8 and P9 respectively, while Haas got their first points finish since last year’s United States Grand Prix, with Kevin Magnussen extending his run as the only driver to score any points for the team since Austria last year.

Australian young gun Oscar Piastri endured another torrid time out in his second Grand Prix, getting squeezed out by Pierre Gasly in the first lap and damaging his front wing, finishing 15th at the back of the pack alongside teammate Lando Norris.