The regulations of the International Automobile Federation (FIA) are punctilious with details, such as its latest rule, which does not allow the circuit to be recognized on Thursdays by bicycle or scooter – it can only be done on foot – but it is ambiguous with important matters. For example, the penalty of five seconds of extra stop in the pits, possibly his most used punishment. It is applied if a driver is placed badly at the start, if he exceeds the lines of the circuit and on other occasions and despite this it does not have a clear, exhaustive, mathematical application. At the Bahrain Grand Prix, the first race of the World Championship, Esteban Ocon's mechanics stood by 4.8 or 4.9 seconds instead of nailing the exact five and the FIA, instead of recognizing that it should surely have its own countdown system, punished the driver with an extra 10 seconds of penalty.


Something similar happened with Fernando Alonso this Sunday. According to article 54.4c of the regulations, Alonso's punishment for misplacing himself at the start consisted of five seconds in which "you can not work while the car is completely stopped". According to the regulations, there are no more prohibitions, simply not being able to work in the car and what is work and what is not is already at the discretion of the stewards. Is touching the car with the rear jack working on it? Rarely. But when Mercedes claimed, there was hardly any debate: second penalty for the Spaniard and the loss of third place to George Russell.

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Formula 1.

Fernando Alonso recovers the podium in Jeddah at dawn

  • Editor: JAVIER SÁNCHEZ (Special Envoy)Jeddah

Fernando Alonso recovers the podium in Jeddah at dawn

Formula 1.

Millions, signings and team: How did Aston Martin create Alonso's 'miracle' car?

  • Editor: JAVIER SÁNCHEZ (Special Envoy)Jeddah

Millions, signings and team: How did Aston Martin create Alonso's 'miracle' car?


"I don't like the rule, I feel bad for Fernando, but that's the way it is," said Toto Wolff, the Mercedes boss, at the time, when his team had taken the podium.


Already at dawn in Jeddah it was Aston Martin's job to analyze in detail what happened and complete an impeccable appeal. Among a back-and-forth of statements – the FIA made official the second punishment to Alonso after having revoked it – the stewards finally accepted that the touch of the rear cat was not enough to penalize the Spaniard so much and returned the podium number 100 of his career. To achieve this, the sports management of the British team had to insist on the images, prove that the mechanics were stopped in the pits almost seconds, and offer numerous precedents.


Because before them up to seven times other teams had touched the car with the cat in a penalty of five seconds and in none of those cases had a subsequent penalty been applied. Aston Martin's archival work was fruitful and among several team members who were embarking home with a stopover in Istanbul euphoria broke out. If the technical management had several months of success to build a very fast car, the sports management did its part as much as it touched. More considering that the race ended almost at 22.00 hours in Jeddah and the appeal was made at dawn. Lately everything goes well for Aston Martin, lately everything goes wrong for the FIA.


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  • Articles Javier Sánchez
  • Fernando Alonso