The race at Jeddah was won by Red Bull’s Sergio Pérez ahead of his teammate Max Verstappen but Alonso delivered another superb drive to seal third for Aston Martin. However the place was not confirmed until more than five hours after the finish and only then after a series of U-turns from the FIA. They awarded a 10-second penalty long after Alonso had already celebrated on the podium, dropping him from third to fourth. Aston Martin then presented evidence to the FIA including arguing that touching the car did not constitute “working” on it as defined in the rules. The FIA admitted the events had exposed an ambiguity in the rules that had to be addressed.

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