The Spaniard has now scored consecutive podium finishes in the opening two races of the 2023 Formula One season.
Follow Us
An hour after taking away his 100th podium, the FIA have reinstated P3 in the 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix to Fernando Alonso. The Aston Martin and Formula One Twitter handles posted the news on the social media platform. The Spaniard has now scored consecutive podium finishes in the opening two races of the 2023 Formula One season and can be in the picture for a world championship come the end of the season.
It was a day of drama for Fernando Alonso, who probably thought he had earned his 100th career podium when he finished P3 on Sunday at the 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. However, his jubilation was soon turned to disappointment as the stewards placed a 10-second time penalty on the Spaniard after the end of the race. Alonso was unhappy with the FIA’s decision, stating that the stewards had a lot of time to inform his team of the decision instead of waiting till the end of the race. The Spaniard was, however, defiant, saying that he would have opened up a gap of 11 seconds on the car behind had he known of the penalty. As a result, George Russell and Mercedes celebrated their first podium of 2023 as Alonso finished P4.
“It doesn’t hurt too much to be honest,” Alonso said as per Sky Sports. “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. You cannot apply a penalty 35 laps after the pit stop. hey had enough time to inform about the penalty. If I knew that, maybe then I open up 11 seconds to the car behind.”
“Today, we didn’t put on a good show for our fans,” the Spaniard added. “I know the team is trying to review it with the stewards now because we didn’t understand fully the second penalty. I care, but I don’t care that much as I have celebrated and now I have three points less? OK, let’s try and recover in Australia.”
Sergio Perez has emerged as the biggest threat to his teammate Max Verstappen’s title defence after he won the 2023 Saudi Arabian GP on Sunday. Perez finished P1, followed by his teammate to make it a second successive 1-2 finish for Red Bull, firmly strengthening their grasp on the constructor’s championship title after just two races. Things however might get a bit feisty between Perez and Verstappen, who are separted by just a single point in the drivers’ championship.
“No, I did enjoy the race to be honest. I enjoyed it a lot, especially at the end, just pushing each other with the lap times knowing that he went a tenth faster, tenth slower, tenth slower, and it was all pretty intense. Then we were told to maintain a certain pace, then I was told again to push then to maintain the pace – so it was just a bit all over the place,” said the race winner.
