![]() It will be up and down throughout the first few races. “There's lots of positives to take from this weekend. “I still don’t have the confidence in the race but I am doing my best with it,” said Hamilton. The penalty was good news for Russell and Mercedes, with silverware an unexpected development so early in the season, while Lewis Hamilton backed up his team-mate by taking fifth – even if he is still struggling with the W14. But it is a little bit sad for the FIA yes.” “There is something really wrong in the system, it’s the way it is, I feel sorry for the fans, but I really enjoyed the podium, I took the trophy, I have the pictures, I celebrate with the champagne and now 15 or 12 points doesn’t change much for me. “Today is not good for the fans when you have 35 laps to apply the penalty and inform about the penalty and you wait after the podium,” said Alonso. Alonso finished five seconds in front of George Russell, meaning he dropped behind the Mercedes driver once the penalty was applied, but was adamant post-race he would have opened a 10-second window had he known there was a sanction coming. But there was no note of an investigation during the following 35 laps. It was judged that Aston Martin’s mechanics had interfered with the car before the five seconds was up, which is a breach of the rules. But shortly after third-placed Alonso celebrated the 100 th podium of his career he was hit with a 10-second time drop due to the original penalty being incorrectly served. Fernando Alonso was correctly handed a five-second time penalty after being slightly out of his grid box at the start and that was served during his pit stop. “Today is not good for the fans when you have 35 laps to apply the penalty and inform about the penalty and you wait after the podium.” Eric Alonso - Getty Images Alonso’s time penalty creates post-race messįormula 1’s governing body and its stewards managed to cover themselves in glory by adding a sour note to a race that had hardly been a thriller. The gap between the pair hovered around the five-second mark for much of the remainder of the race, amid Verstappen’s concerns regarding another potential driveshaft issue, and Perez duly led home his team-mate for Red Bull’s second 1-2 of the season. Such was the performance of Red Bull’s RB19 that Verstappen gradually picked off rivals one by one – aided by a Safety Car period which reduced a deficit to Perez that peaked at 20 seconds – to hold second place by mid-distance. The World Champion had been unbeatable throughout the trio of practice sessions but the failure in Q2 meant Verstappen started only 15 th on the grid. Key to the outcome of the race was the driveshaft failure which beset team-mate Verstappen during qualifying. Red Bull’s pace advantage around the Jeddah Corniche Circuit was such that he was able to breeze past Fernando Alonso – having lost out on the opening lap – and from there he opened and preserved a buffer to his closest challengers. It was a comfortable night in the end of Sergio Perez. Anadolu Agency - Getty Images Perez leads home Verstappen Race winner Sergio Perez (R) of Mexico and second placed Max Verstappen (L) of the Netherlands and Oracle Red Bull Racing celebrate after the F1 Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia at Jeddah Corniche Circuit on Main Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
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