Alonso, a happy man after returning his 3rd place in Jeddah

We had to wait several hours before having the final classification for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Moments after the end of the podium celebrations, the FIA ​​announced a 10-second penalty for Fernando Alonso, came 3rd in the race. The reason: the 5-second penalty in the poorly served pits. The Spaniard then had to hand over his trophy to George Russell.

“It doesn’t hurt much, to be honest. I was on the podium, I took the photos, I took the trophy, I celebrated with champagne. Now I'm apparently three points down; I don’t have 15, but 12”, declared the double world champion after losing his podium.

A few hours later, the situation turns around. Following a right of appeal fromAston Martin, the commissioners ultimately reversed their decision, arguing that it "there was no clear agreement, as previously suggested to the commissioners, on which to determine that the parties had agreed that a jack touching a car would be equivalent to working on the car. »

Alonso reassured by Aston Martin's place in the hierarchy

Fernando Alonso therefore regained his 3rd place to officially register his 100th podium in Formula 1. The native of Oviedo thus becomes the 6th driver to reach the 100 mark, along withHamilton, Schumacher, Hag, Cheers and Raikkonen. “I am happy with tonight’s result and our second podium, rejoiced the Bull of Asturias after this final turnaround by the FIA. We showed we could be the second fastest team and we had good pace throughout the race. »

Starting on the front line, the Iberian was poorly positioned in his starting position, likeEsteban Ocon in Bahrain. If he had managed to get the better of Pérez when the lights went out, the pace of the Red Bull was such that the Aston Martin driver was unable to keep pace. Fernando Alonso finally settled for 3rd place, ahead of his main rivals. “ I made a mistake at the start with my grid position, but we pushed to make up for lost time. Before this weekend we didn't know exactly where we would be, so this is good news for us ahead of the next races. »

With two podiums and 30 points on the clock after two Grands Prix, Fernando Alonso is having his best start to the season since 2012! A rebirth for the 41-year-old driver who could (finally) achieve a 33rd victory in F1 this season, 10 years after the last…

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