Saudi F1 drama: Alonso reinstated to podium after Aston Martin appeal penalty

Fernando Alonso took the 100th podium of his career after being reinstated as the third-placed finisher at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix early Monday (20 March) morning. 

The Spaniard finished Sunday's race in third place but was demoted to fourth when he was handed a post-race 10-second penalty for an infringement as he tried to serve an earlier five-second penalty in a pitstop.

The stewards judged that a mechanic touched the car with a rear tyre jack before the five seconds had elapsed, and so the penalty had not been served correctly.

That handed third place to Mercedes' George Russell, who described the penalty as "harsh".

Fernando Alonso. The Centurion. ??#SaudiArabianGP #F1 @alo_oficial pic.twitter.com/pD4LPgzrNk

Successful appeal

Aston Martin, however, launched an appeal, prompting the FIA to reverse their decision.

"Having reviewed the new evidence, we concluded that there was no clear agreement, as was suggested to the stewards previously, that could be relied upon to determine that parties had agreed that a jack touching a car would amount to working on the car," the FIA said in a statement.

"In the circumstances, we considered that our original decision to impose a penalty on Car 14 (Alonso) needed to be reversed, and we did so accordingly."

The two-time champion had incurred the original penalty when he took the lead at the first corner of the 50-lap race, but started from an incorrect position, too far to the left in his grid slot.

Alonso had appeared unperturbed when he was initially stripped of third after he had appeared on the podium with race winner Sergio Perez and his Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen and in the post-race interviews.

"I'm not too upset," he said. "It was good, and it doesn't hurt much. I was on