George Russell called out the F1 governing body over their penalty call in Saudi Arabia. The FIA penalized Fernando Alonso again for not serving the penalty initially. The Mercedes driver thinks the penalty was too extreme and too much for the driver.
As per multiple reports, Russell said that the FIA time penalties are too harsh at times. Citing the first five seconds time penalty, he said that Alonso gained nothing by positioning his car that way. Hence, the penalty was a bit harsh.
BREAKING: Fernando Alonso is given a 10s penalty for an incorrectly-served penalty, and loses his podium in Jeddah
He drops to fourth, with George Russell moving up to third#SaudiArabianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/PWA3dM3wI4
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 19, 2023
After receiving the punishment, the Aston Martin driver dived into the pit lane to serve his penalty. However, FIA penalized the Spanish driver by a further ten seconds at the end of the podium celebrations.
Calling it too extreme, the president of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association asked the stewards and FIA to show a little common sense. The Mercedes driver initially benefitted from the penalty but had to give up the position later on after the decision was overturned.
Russell understands how tough it is to place a car
The Silver Arrows ace shared that he finds it incredibly difficult to put his car in the grid position. He said that the drivers usually sit so low that they can only see a few inches of their front tires, let alone see the ground.
Although there is a yellow line to help the drivers with the grid position, he can’t even see those lines, he said. When the yellow line get’s tough to see, one might not always be aware of the position of the white line.
Esteban Ocon picked up 3️⃣ penalties during the Bahrain GP, matching Pastor Maldonado’s record from 2015 👀#F1 #BahrainGP pic.twitter.com/S6YqOa1okJ
— Motorsport.com (@Motorsport) March 7, 2023
Factually, Esteban Ocon received a similar penalty in Bahrain. The Alpine driver’s car was out of the line during the race start and he did not serve the penalty correctly. Hence, the harsh penalty of five and ten seconds was applied.
How positions got swapped between Alonso and Russell for FIA?
As per the race result, Alonso finished his race behind the Red Bull duo of Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen. However, it was the call from FIA that changed it all for him and Russell.
After the late decision to bring out a penalty for Aston Martin, the Mercedes driver who finished his race in P4 was brought up to P3. Whereas, the 41-year-old moved down to P4 due to ten second-time penalty.
However, after the Silverstone-based team appealed the penalty, the decision was overturned. And with this, the oldest driver on the grid got back his 100th podium in Formula 1.
Meta: Mercedes star driver George Russell hit out at the stewards and FIA over Fernando Alonso’s controversial Saudi Arabian Grand Prix penalty in Jeddah.
