The FIA will review the F1 Saudi Arabian GP penalty situation and issue a clarification before the Australian GP.
It didn’t take long for F1 to get into another debacle where a grand prix result was only confirmed four hours after it was finished. The Saudi Arabian GP saw multiple change of podium positions before it was given back to the original podium finisher.
A wrongly served penalty resulted in another post-race penalty to Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, who was demoted to fourth after the podium celebrations were over. Mercedes’ George Russell inherited third place but Aston Martin didn’t back down.
They went with right to review and won the case against the FIA stewards to retake third. The goof-up was because of the words of Article 54.4 (c) of Sporting Regulations, which doesn’t mention if touching the car is also counted as working.
The FIA team at ROC were under the impression that touching did counted as working but Aston Martin clarified it wasn’t the case. They presented seven times when no penalty was awarded for the same, which eventually resulted in reversal of the penalty.
With couple of weeks to go for the Australian GP, the FIA is slated to have a Sporting Advisory meeting on Thursday where it intends to review and discuss the matter. They will, therefore, then issue a clarification before the Melbourne event.
“The request to the Stewards for review of the initial decision (Document 51) was made in the last lap of the race,” said a statement from the FIA. “The subsequent decision of the stewards to hear and grant the Right of Review by the Competitor was the result of new evidence regarding the definition of ‘working on the car’, for which there were conflicting precedents, and this has been exposed by this specific circumstance.
“This topic will therefore be addressed at the next Sporting Advisory Committee taking place on Thursday, 23 March, and a clarification will be issued ahead of the 2023 FIA Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix. This open approach to the review and improvement of its processes is part of the FIA’s ongoing mission to regulate the sport in a fair and transparent way.”
Here’s all what happened with penalty and reversal
Here’s how F1 Saudi Arabian GP panned out