FLOYD ON F1: Alonso penalty confusion in Saudi sows discord

Saudi Arabia must rate as one of the most peculiar F1 races for many a year, particularly the decisions made by the race stewards.

The grid was set for an exciting race, with F1 world champion Max Verstappen in 15th spot, due to a driveshaft failure in Q2 and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc 12th, after a penalty for exceeding the number of control units permitted for the year.

Starting on pole, Sergio Perez lost position to second place Fernando Alonso, in the revitalised Aston Martin, who took the lead into turn one and the fight was on.

But a notification was issued that the Spaniard was out of position in his grid box, being too far to the left and given a five-second penalty, his response was a calm, “then I must drive quicker”.

He later pitted and the crew held off until the five second penalty was served before changing tyres and then rejoined the race, to finish third.

Confusion sets in

Perez took a well-deserved victory, followed home by Verstappen, whose inspired drive had gained him 13 places.

But then officialdom created a totally confusing and unacceptable situation.

Fifty laps completed, the five-second penalty served, then confusion over whether the penalty was served correctly, leading to an almighty push from the Aston Martin F1 driver to ensure he was more than five seconds ahead of the fourth position Mercedes of George Russell.

There was jubilation in the Aston camp as the spray of the champagne and fireworks closed the podium ceremony.

F1 stewards step in

Then it was announced the stewards had reconsidered the incident and declared the penalty was not correctly served due to the rear jack touching the car during the compulsory five-second stop.
Alonso was demoted to fourth and Russell moved to third.

Confused? You bet your life. Even Russell declared the position was rightly Alonso’s and Aston Martin’s.

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So what went wrong? Simply put it was due to an apparent misunderstanding of the ruling regarding the term, “working on the car”, when serving a penalty.

The stewards believed that “an alleged representation of an agreement between the FIA and the teams that touching the car in any way, including with a jack, would constitute ‘working’ on the car for the purposes of Article 54.4 (c) of the Sporting Regulations.”

Incompetence

But the agreement had not been ratified and consequently the F1 steward’s decision was wrong.

After representation and viewing videos of previous incidents which earned no penalties, the results were once more reversed and Alonso’s 100th podium appearance stood.

This situation should never arise again in an activity billed as the apical point of motor sport. Sheer incompetence, it was.

The next F1 race is on 2 April in Australia.