Fernando Alonso's 100th career podium in Formula 1 has been made official after the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix stewards reinstated the Aston Martin driver's third-place finish in the race.
All is well that ends well for Alonso who fought hard to overcome an initial 5-second penalty for lining up incorrectly in his grid box at the start of the race.
But adding insult to injury, the Spaniard was hit with a 10-second sanction minutes after the evening's podium celebrations when it transpired, according to the stewards' investigation and based on video evidence, that a the rear jack had come into contact with Alonso's car during its 5-second immobilization ahead of its tyre change.
The Stewards commented that there was a so-called "agreed position" between the FIA and the teams that touching a car [including with a rear jack] would amount to working on the car, which is against the rules during the period when a driver observes a penalty.
Article 54.4 c) of F1’s Sporting Regulations states: "While a car is stationary in the pit lane as a result of incurring a penalty in accordance with Articles 54.3a) or 54.3b) above, it may not be worked on until the car has been stationary for the duration of the penalty."
Aston Martin team principal Mike Krack said he believed Aston Martin had followed the rules and did not "work on the car" until after the 5-second period had elapsed.
"The rules say you cannot work on the car and, to our understanding, we have not worked on the car," said Aston team boss Mike Krack before the outcome of the Right of Review.
"But I think now this discussion is around the jack touching the car or not. And this is I think what is at the moment being clarified."
Initially, the FIA was clear that there was an acceptance among teams that it would deem it a breach of the rules if mechanics did touch the car.
But Aston Martin could find no such agreement in place with the teams. The stewards' decision was therefore overturned
A statement from the stewards said: "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, without more.
"In the circumstances, we considered that our original decision to impose a penalty on Car 14 needed to be reversed and we did so accordingly."
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