Fernando Alonso reinstated to podium after penalty appeal

That handed third place to Mercedes’ George Russell who described the penalty as “harsh”.

Aston Martin, nevertheless, launched an appeal, prompting the FIA to reverse their resolution.

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“Having reviewed the new evidence, we concluded that there was no clear agreement, as was suggested to the stewards previously, that could be relied upon to determine that parties had agreed that a jack touching a car would amount to working on the car,” the FIA stated in an announcement.

“In the circumstances, we considered that our original decision to impose a penalty on Car 14 (Alonso) needed to be reversed and we did so accordingly.”

Fernando Alonso blamed the FIA

The two-time champion had incurred the unique penalty when he took the lead on the first nook of the 50-lap race, however began from an incorrect place, too far to the left in his grid slot.

Alonso had appeared unperturbed when he was initially stripped of third after he had appeared on the podium with race winner Sergio Perez and his Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen and within the post-race interviews.

“I’m not too upset,” he stated.

“It was good and it doesn’t hurt much. I was on the podium, I took the pictures, I got the trophy. I celebrated with the champagne.”

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The 41-year-old blamed the FIA for the mishandling of the penalty.

“You can’t apply the penalty 35 laps after the pit-stop. They had enough time to inform us. If I knew about the penalty, I would have had 11 seconds with the car.”

Even Russell agreed: “That penalty for Fernando was harsh. They deserved a podium finish today,” stated the Briton who went again to fourth.

The pit-lane downside was an identical infringement to that of Alpine driver Esteban Ocon who was given three penalties on the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.

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The Aston Martin group’s later appeal drew consideration to the confusion over the rule.

Alonso, making his record-increasing 357th race begin, heaped reward on his group after the race.

“These guys have made a unbelievable automotive, a unbelievable execution of the race right here and in Bahrain, with the technique and now two podiums.

“These guys give me power and I push all the way through and in qualifying laps too. The Red Bulls are out of reach, but the rest were behind us so I’m happy with that.”

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