(Paris) The FIA wants to “clarify” its rules by the next F1 Grand Prix, after the imbroglio which saw it deprive Fernando Alonso of his third place at the GP of Saudi Arabia on Sunday, then restore it to him two hours later.
Alonso was first sanctioned for not respecting a penalty: while he was serving his five-second penalty in the pits, a mechanic put the rear jack in contact with his single-seater, whereas the regulations stipulate that one cannot may “not work” on the car during his penalty.
The Aston Martin team then produced documents showing that other competitors had done the same thing in the past without being sanctioned. The stewards of the FIA (International Automobile Federation), who had inflicted an additional ten-second penalty on him, finally ruled in his favor, returning the Spanish driver to third place behind the two Red Bulls of Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen. .
“This issue will be addressed at the next meeting of the Sporting Advisory Committee, scheduled for Thursday March 23,” said a spokesperson for the FIA, which regulates F1: “A clarification, he added, will be published before the Australian Grand Prix”, scheduled for April 2.
In Jeddah, says the FIA, the stewards allowed Aston Martin to lodge an appeal after being presented with “new evidence concerning the definition of (the term) ‘working on the car’, for which there were conflicting precedents “.