Saudi Arabian GP: Alonso Claims 100th Podium!
On Sunday in Saudi Arabia, Fernando Alonso joined the rarified air of standing on an F1 podium for the 100th time. He is the sixth driver to accomplish the feat, joining the likes of Schumacher, Vettel, Hamilton, Raikkonen and Prost. He very nearly missed out, however, when he was handed a ten-second time penalty (later retracted) after the race. According to the race stewards, Alonso had lined up in his grid box incorrectly at the start and was forced to serve a five-second penalty at his next pit stop. During the stop it was ruled that one of the mechanics in the pit box touched the car with the rear jack before the five seconds were up, and a penalty of ten seconds was added to Alonso’s race time. This would have put him into 4th place behind George Russell. But, after a post-race Right of Review from Aston Martin it was determined through earlier precedent that touching the car with the jack does not necessarily constitute working on or servicing the car. Because the penalty was still pending, Alonso was able to celebrate his podium before it took effect, commenting afterwards that he enjoyed the celebration even though he thought he might be demoted to 4th place.
“It doesn’t hurt much, to be honest. I was on the podium, I did the pictures, I took the trophy, I celebrated with the champagne. Now I have apparently three points less; I don’t have fifteen, I have twelve.”
In the end though, after the race stewards met with Aston Martin, the decision to penalize car number 14 was reversed and Alonso was allowed to keep his trophy. This is the first time Alonso has taken consecutive podiums since Singapore in 2013. Also, the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix marks the first time Alonso has led the first lap of a race since Germany in 2012.
After starting in 2nd, Alonso took the lead from Red Bull’s Sergio Perez on the opening lap. During qualifying Verstappen had been unable to advance into Q3 after having an issue with his gearbox, relegating him to 15th. Leclerc actually qualified 2nd, but with a ten-spot grid penalty for taking his third Electronic Control Unit of the season, he was forced to start in 12th position. Alonso inherited his 2nd place start but had made the most of it. Perez, however, after being passed on the first corner by Alonso, was able to regain the lead after just a few laps and create a considerable gap while Verstappen, with the help of a safety car, was able to finish in 2nd about 5.3 seconds behind Perez and more than 15 seconds ahead of Alonso. Yes, the Red Bulls are still dominating despite Alonso’s efforts.
Things didn’t go as well for Alonso’s teammate, Lance Stroll, who was forced to retire from the race with a mechanical issue. Due to the way Stroll positioned his car when he pulled off the track, the safety car was deployed, an unfortunate outcome for Ferrari, as they had just pitted and lost their advantage to the Mercedes drivers, who were able to pit under the safety car. Ultimately, Leclerc finished in 7th, Sainz 6th, Hamilton 5th, and Russell 4th behind Alonso. The rest of the points earners were Ocon in 8th, Gasly behind in 9th and Magnussen, who managed to pass Yuki Tsunoda with four laps remaining, in 10th. Haas is now on scoreboard and beginning to look like they could be competitive in the midfield. But let’s not get too excited.
Alpha Tauri and McLaren, however, both continue to struggle, having yet to score points this season. The good news is that Yuki Tsunoda was close for Alpha Tauri and rookie Nyck de Dries finished in 14th again, this time ahead of the other rookies. Piastri, delighted to have finished his first race this season, was about 7.5 seconds behind, with Sargeant about 1 second behind him. Unfortunately for McLaren, both cars were involved in a first lap incident and had to pit early, losing valuable time. Otherwise, they might have finished much higher. McLaren seems to be much improved over Bahrain so it’s up to the drivers to maximize what they can or it’s going to be a very long season for them. At least Norris wasn’t lapped this time out. Bottas at Alfa Romeo was however. Zhou, his teammate, finished in 13th, just about 1.5 seconds ahead of de Vries. Next up is Australia, taking place on April 2nd. Until then, stay fast and stay hungry.