While the 2024 F1 season will be heading to the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, a latest report has surfaced about the race’s previous running. This includes Mohammed Ben Sulayem’s alleged intervening in a matter at the Jeddah circuit. Recent reports from the BBC claim that a whistleblower informed the FIA that the Emirati had attempted to influence the revoking of Fernando Alonso‘s penalty during the 2023 Saudi Arabian GP.
According to compliance officer Paolo Basarri, the whistleblower said that the FIA’s president, “Pretended [Expected] the stewards to overturn their decision to issue” the penalty to Alonso.”
Based on the informant’s allegations, Sulayem called the FIA’s vice president for the Middle East and North Africa region, Sheikh Abdullah Bin Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa, expressing his belief that Alonso’s penalty should be reversed.
For some context on the penalty in question, it was a 10-second time penalty that the #14 driver received for not serving a previous 5-second penalty (for being out of position in the start box) correctly during his pitstop. Aston Martin challenged to overturn the 10-second penalty as they claimed that it was within the rules for their jackman to touch the car as it did not constitute “working” on the car while serving the penalty. The team reportedly showed several similar instances to the stewards for the same.
Interestingly, the penalty was overturned, and Alonso managed to secure a podium position. Had the penalty not been implemented, the Spanish driver would have been fourth behind George Russell who had inherited P3.
Nevertheless, the final report on the matter from the ethics committee should be released in four to six weeks. However, the punishment in question is something that needs to be examined, which is exactly what drove some supporters to express their ire on Twitter.
Fernando Alonso comes under fire after another F1 scandal surfaces
Fernando Alonso has always had a bad guy perception in the sport. However, since he arrived at Aston Martin, the fans have seen him overturning that image. Nevertheless, amidst this, when they got to know that Alonso had reportedly been involved in another controversy, they lashed the two-time champion.
Alonso had already been involved in a scandal that damaged the sport. In 2008 the Spaniard won the Singapore GP due to the deliberate crash of his teammate at Renault, Nelson Piquet Jr. While the FIA did not penalize Alonso for his victory in Singapore, the news that he is once more linked to a scandal has fans going crazy.
While the Saudi Arabian GP penalty was not as big as the 2008 Crashgate, Alonso’s indirect involvement as the driver in question makes fans perplexed. The Asturian driver has been in the thick of many such controversies and scandals. Be it the Spygate scandal at McLaren in 2007 or the aforementioned Crashgate, the Spaniard is “always at the scene of the crime”, some fans joked.
Even the Oscar Piastri saga in 2022 with Alpine had Alonso moving teams. That was the stimulus of the Australian rookie starting the chaos with his tweet denying to drive for the French team.
