MADRID, 19 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish Formula 1 driver Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) maintained a “good taste” this Sunday at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix despite the subsequent sanction that made him lose the podium won at the Jeddah circuit, with a late decision by the FIA, after “checking Mercedes and Ferrari”.
“I don’t care, if they took it from me before going up it would have hurt a little more, but after the celebration, the champagne, having all our sponsors. They had 35 laps to think about the penalty and they didn’t have time. We’re seeing, the team does not agree. Let’s see what happens, but take away my dancing, I’ve enjoyed the podium,” he said in statements to Dazn.
Alonso was left without his podium 100 a few minutes after celebrating it, due to a 10-second penalty because a mechanic touched his car with a jack while he was serving the five-second penalty he suffered at the start. The double world champion regretted the FIA’s delay in communicating a sanction that he could have alleviated by pushing harder on the track to keep third place.
“The FIA has not been very good, they have had an hour to give the penalty and they have done it a bit all wrong. I made a mistake at the start, I went too far to the left. When they told me I had five seconds I thought I’d throw a little more. If they told me that I had a 10-second penalty, I would have thrown more and got 11 or 12 from Russell, but they didn’t say anything. I could do more but they hadn’t said anything,” he said.
On the other hand, Alonso highlighted the high level of his Aston Martin on a demanding and fast Jeddah track, after third place in Bahrain. “It was a bit the objective of this weekend, how competitive we were here, on a circuit so different from Bahrain, on such a fast circuit and we were the second fastest car. We were able to control Ferrari and Mercedes, even expanding the rent when we wanted. The start, very well too, we have the photo of an Aston Martin leading the race, “he said.
“It was a race to control Mercedes and Ferrari a bit. It hurts a bit not to be on the podium but I’m still at the top with a good taste in my mouth,” he finished, despite falling to fourth place.