After the Alonso incident, the FIA will clarify the rules
After the confusion surrounding the potential penalty wrongly served by Aston Martin, the FIA will address this issue in a meeting to clear up any confusion in the future. Clarifications will be provided before the next Grand Prix.
The scene was comical last night in Jeddah. Fernando celebrated his third place on the podium, trophy in hand, before it was taken away from him and finally reattributed late in the evening. A frustrating situation that will be addressed before the next Grand Prix in Australia, so that it doesn’t happen again.
A story about a jack
Aston Martin is said to have failed to comply with its penalty: the rear jack was deemed to have made contact with Alonso’s car before the five seconds had elapsed. As a result, the stewards imposed a ten-second penalty on the Spaniard, causing him to lose the 100th podium of his career. The British team appealed this decision and, a few hours later, succeeded in their appeal.
In support of the request for review, the commissioners have reviewed the minutes of the last SAC meeting and video evidence of seven different cases where cars were affected by the jack while serving a similar penalty to the one imposed on car 14, without receiving a penalty.
The team clearly asserted that the alleged depiction of an agreement between the FIA and the teams stating that any form of contact with the car, including with a jack, would be considered “work” on the car was incorrect, and therefore, the basis of the commissioners’ decision was erroneous, states the FIA report.
Clarifications provided before Australia
On Monday, a spokesperson for the FIA indicated that the issue would be discussed during a meeting this week to avoid any confusion for the upcoming Grand Prix.
The request for a review of the initial decision was made in the last lap of the race.
The subsequent decision of the commissioners to hear and grant the right to review to the competitor is the result of new evidence concerning the definition of “working on the car,” for which there were contradictory precedents, and this was highlighted by this specific circumstance.
This subject will therefore be addressed during the next meeting of the Sports Consultative Committee which will take place on Thursday, March 23rd, and a clarification will be published before the 2023 FIA Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix, he declares.
