The FIA came under fire at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit following a penalty which was awarded to Fernando Alonso, after the Spaniard was deemed to have not properly served a five-second time penalty.

Alonso was awarded the initial penalty for starting the race outside of his grid slot, with the Aston Martin driver having then served it during his one and only pit-stop.

Under Article 54.4, a car isn’t allowed to be worked on whilst it’s serving a time penalty, something the FIA found Aston Martin guilty of.

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It was noted that the rear jack had been touching Alonso’s car whilst the penalty was being served, with the governing body having awarded him a further time penalty for not serving the initial penalty correctly.

As a result, he was demoted from third to fourth after the podium celebrations, with the Spaniard having later handed the trophy over to George Russell.

However, Aston Martin appealed the penalty due to the wording of the article, which stated that you simply couldn’t work on the car, something the rear jack wasn’t doing.

“The regulations say you cannot work on the car,” Krack said.

“It is maybe a little bit ambiguous but this is something that we need to look at.

“We have a clear procedure for it, we have a countdown and everything was actually fully safe. There was no advantage gained from it.”

As a result, the team’s appeal was successful, with Alonso’s second penalty having been revoked, meaning he was reinstated to third.

READ: Lewis Hamilton makes worrying Max Verstappen prediction

To clear up any future cases of the same incident the FIA have now changed the wording of the article, with it now making much more sense.

Article 54.4 now states that “touching the vehicle or the driver with your hand or with tools or equipment is considered work”.

It means that from now on, nothing is allowed to be in contact with a car that is serving a time penalty, until it has been correctly served.

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The reigning World Champion is starting to make a bit of a habit of ignoring team instructions, with the Dutchman having done the opposite of what the team asked last season at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

In São Paulo last season, Verstappen was asked to let Sergio Pérez past for sixth on the final lap, due to the Dutchman having initially been allowed to overtake the Mexican.

Verstappen ignored the team before shouting over the team radio after the race, resulting in a difficult situation for team principal Christian Horner to deal with.

READ: ‘Finished already’: Lando Norris makes Mercedes engine revelation

The duo supposedly settled their differences after that race; however, Verstappen’s disobedience has seemingly opened up another can of worms for the Austrians.

Pérez and Verstappen ran first and second for the entire second half of last Sunday’s race, with the gap having remained between five and six-seconds.

Tension started to build in the final five laps of the race, though, after Verstappen was asked by his race engineer to “target 33.0.”

Verstappen completely ignored the instruction and failed to reply, until he asked what the fastest lap currently was.

His race engineer replied by saying, “not concerned about that at the moment”, to which Verstappen replied: “But I am.”

At the same time as Verstappen’s conversation with his race engineer, Pérez was being told to also aim for a 1:33.0, only to then be told to drop to a “32.6”.

Pérez was clearly aware that the reason for being told to increase his pace was due to Verstappen having sped up, resulting in the 33-year-old asking his race engineer “is Max doing the same?”.

Verstappen went on to claim the fastest lap from Pérez on the final lap, keeping him in the lead of the championship by just a single point from his team-mate.

Pérez was clearly unhappy in the cooldown room upon realising that the Dutchman had set the fastest lap, with Glock expecting it to now “lead to a fight between the two”.

“Verstappen’s fastest lap, which he grabbed on the last lap, will again lead to internal discussions,” Glock told Sky Deutschland.

“Sergio Perez will not get involved in any topic in which he will have to support Verstappen in the future. I’m sure of that because the Mexican sees his chance to fight for the title with Verstappen.

READ: ‘Bust anyway’: Helmut Marko fires dig at new Red Bull CEO

“This will lead to a fight between the two. We can expect that there will be friction. Red Bull is certainly already aware of this.

“Perez showed that he is strong and has very good pace in the race.

“At the same time, Verstappen is someone who doesn’t allow himself to be told and does what he thinks is right. The team can say whatever they want.”

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Ferrari have certainly endured a challenging start to 2023, with the side having also encountered one issue with their power unit, which led to Leclerc retiring at the season-opener in Bahrain.

As a result of that failure, he took a 10-place grid penalty in Jeddah, a penalty he could only recover five places from.

The Monegasque finished in seventh right behind team-mate Carlos Sainz, as Ferrari slipped to fourth in the Constructors’ Championship.

READ: Manager hits out at Fernando Alonso’s critics, accuses FIA of trying to steal his podium

It cemented what’s been a tough start to the season of Ferrari both on and off the circuit, with issues at Maranello having been discussed by the 25-year-old ahead of last weekend.

Leclerc admits that a meeting took place in Maranello following the rumours but that he was “really surprised” by their positive responses.

“Honestly I obviously saw these rumours and then went to Maranello [after Bahrain] so I was at first I was like ‘oh I’m not sure how the team will react to it’ but then we’ve had a meeting with the whole team, with all the Ferrari employees. I was really surprised,” Leclerc said, as reported by Sky Sports.

“Everyone is fully on it and fully positive still, which is great. We all need to push in the same direction as I said this is the most important.

“There have been loads of rumours around the team – which, for once, 90 per cent of them were completely unfounded.

“I don’t know from where it is coming from and to be honest I don’t want to even spend any energy on trying to find from where it’s coming from. We just need to be on it and focus on ourselves.”

Leclerc’s and Sainz’s highlight of the weekend was arguably having a drawing competition against each other as part of a segment of Sky Sport F1’s build-up to the race, where they had to draw each other.

Leclerc was victorious in the duel, with his drawing having been voted as the winner by members of the media who watched the skit.

READ: Lewis Hamilton visibly dejected in Saudi Arabia

The Monegasque went on to discuss the challenges of being part of Ferrari and how “there’s lots of voices” when things go wrong, given how historic the team are.

“When it’s Ferrari who doesn’t go as well as it should then there’s lots of voices and all of these things around the team but we need to be good at spending our energy right inside the team, pushing in the right direction and making a difference and come back stronger,” said Leclerc.

“I feel this has been the case in the last few weeks so I’m really looking forward to be being back on track, stop the talk and get back to driving.”

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After obliterating the competition last season with 17 wins, Red Bull have somehow become even stronger over the winter break, with the Austrians having been unbeatable at the opening two rounds of the 2023 F1 season.

Red Bull have claimed a 1-2 at both races so far this year, whilst Max Verstappen and Pérez also have a pole position each.

READ: Fans gobsmacked by Max Verstappen’s overtake on George Russell

Their qualifying and race pace is miles clear of every other team on the grid, with nobody being able to run the same lap times consistently.

Fernando Alonso attempted to stay on the back of Pérez at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, but ultimately fell 21 seconds behind the Mexican.

Whilst only two races have been completed, it does seem for all the world that Red Bull are going to comfortably win both titles; however, Pérez has warned his side that issues are ahead if they don’t solve some reliability issues.

Pérez has been somewhat lucky so far this season and hasn’t really suffered from any reliability issues, although, he was concerned that his car had developed a fault towards the end of Sunday’s race.

Verstappen on the other hand, endured a transmission-based issue during the Bahrain Grand Prix and suffered a catastrophic driveshaft failure at the start of Q2 in Saudi Arabia, which resulted in the reigning world champion starting the race from 15th.

Pérez is concerned that the side are eventually going to suffer a reliability-based retirement if they don’t get on top of their issues, with the 33-year-old having admitted that himself and Verstappen came incredibly close to retiring in Bahrain.

READ: George Russell claims Mercedes are holding back some performance

“Well, reliability is where it is. We saw it today with Aston Martin. It’s going to hit us at some point, but obviously, we need to keep working on that,” Pérez said during the post-race press conference.

“We need to reduce races with issues whenever we can. We were in a lucky position in Bahrain, but otherwise, if we had to push to the end, we probably wouldn’t make the [end of the] race.

“So there are a lot of reliability concerns at the moment, but hopefully, they don’t hit us anytime soon.”

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Hamilton was overtaken ridiculously easily by Verstappen, as the reigning World Champion successfully recovered to second place, having started from 15th.

Verstappen’s 2021 rival noted his “serious speed” and how he had no clue what Red Bull were doing to achieve it, with the Austrians having been 33-34 km/h faster down the start/finish straight at times.

“I don’t know why or how, but he came past me with serious speed,” Hamilton said after the race.

READ: FIA accused of favouritism after Lewis Hamilton shown flag while Max Verstappen wasn’t warned

Hamilton went on to explain that Red Bull’s RB19 is the “fastest car I’ve seen” in the history of Formula 1, with the 38-year-old believing that the Austrians have a greater advantage now than Mercedes ever did from 2014-2021.

He added that he “didn’t even bother to block” Verstappen due to the significant speed difference, highlighting just how remarkable a job the Milton Keynes-based side have done.

“I’ve definitely never seen a car so fast,” explained Hamilton when asked by media, including RacingNews365.com.

“When we were fast, we weren’t that fast. That’s the fastest car I’ve seen, especially compared to the rest. I don’t know why or how but he [Verstappen] came past me with serious speed.

“I didn’t even bother to block because there was a massive speed difference.

“I can’t question [the legality of the Red Bull], they’ve done a better job.”

In order to achieve the sensational top-speed, The Race’s Gary Anderson believes Red Bull have taken their ‘aggressive beam wing design’ up another notch, with the outfit having managed to reduce their drag.

READ: Italy fires warning about its two Formula 1 grand prix

He noted that Red Bull’s sensational top-speed is due to somewhat of a ‘triple DRS’, with Adrian Newey having designed yet another unbelievable race car.

Red Bull’s chief technology officer has clearly gained a better understanding of the new aerodynamic regulations that any other side, with Mercedes last season having typically struggled at the low-downforce circuits.

The Austrians have proven again this season already that they have a car that can perform at two completely different circuits, with the Bahrain International Circuit and the Jeddah Corniche Circuit having incredibly different characteristics.

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The new aerodynamic regulations were introduced in 2022 in a bid to allow drivers to follow each other more easily, something which was largely impossible in the previous era of the sport.

In the previous era, drivers commonly were forced to back-off if they were unable to force an overtake, due to the dirty air having hurt their tyres.

This was seen considerably less last year, with 2022 having seen more overtakes than any other season of the pinnacle of motorsport.

READ: Ex-F1 champion claims Alpine will ‘suffer a big loss’ from Fernando Alonso

As the new regs have started to develop, though, it appears that the sport is starting to return to its former ways, with little action having been seen at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.

Max Verstappen was really the only driver to pull-off a considerable number of overtakes; however, this was largely due to the RB19’s supremacy.

Sainz complained after the race about how challenging it was in “dirty air”, with it having been not “that easy to pass”.

“These cars in dirty air have got a bit worse compared to last year, probably adding downforce and the new regs,” Sainz told Sky Sports.

“They are starting to become a bit like the old cars where the dirty air is becoming a limitation, and today it wasn’t that easy to pass.”

McLaren’s Lando Norris was another driver who complained about how challenging it was to follow another car, with the Briton having revealed that the Woking-based team “can’t follow very well”.

READ: Martin Brundle admits he was happy to see Max Verstappen start from P15

“[Our car is] a bit worse in the race than I would say we were hoping for. We can’t follow very well, we struggled in the dirty air too much,” said Norris to media, including RacingNews365.com.

Rookie Logan Sargeant was another to complain but he’s unsure whether his difficulties were due to having “pushed a bit too hard”.

“I was relatively competitive after the Safety Car fighting with Hulkenberg. But maybe just pushed a bit too hard in the dirty air and hurt my tyres too early,” said Sargeant.

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Verstappen was clearly unhappy at last weekend’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, with the reigning World Champion’s weekend having been ridiculed by a driveshaft failure during Q2.

As a result, he was forced to start the race from 15th, despite having been the favourite for pole position.

To no shock at all given how fast he was throughout free practice at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, Verstappen breezed his way into second by Lap 25, before finding himself five-seconds behind team-mate Sergio Perez.

READ: Charles Leclerc makes worrying admission about Ferrari’s struggles

Catching the Mexican was seemingly one task too many for the 25-year-old, though, with Verstappen having been unable to catch his Red Bull counterpart.

Verstappen openly admitted after the race that he was “not happy” to finish second and that he wasn’t in F1 to claim the second step on the rostrum.

“I recovered to second which is good, and in general the whole feeling in the team, everyone is happy, but personally I’m not happy, because I’m not here to be second,” Verstappen said after the race.

His attitude and mentality were questioned after the race by Rosberg, who also called the Dutchman “weak” after he set the fastest lap on the final lap, despite having been informed by Red Bull to set a specific lap-time.

Rosberg went on to suggest that the double World Champion “could be a little more gracious” in defeat, after clips on social media showed Verstappen exiting the podium celebrations as quickly as possible.

“I think that’s weak at first,” Rosberg told Sky Sports F1.

READ: Christian Horner in difficult position as Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez ‘friction’ re-emerges

“What kind of sign is that for the whole team? It is not good to see [Verstappen’s reaction] really. Also, [on Saturday], he left the track very quickly and skipped the team meeting apparently, that is what we have been told.

“That is not a good approach, not a good mentality this early in the season when the team has done such a brilliant job with the car and is working so hard. He could be a little bit more gracious, I would say.”

Following Rosberg’s comments, Verstappen’s camp have revealed that he was given permission to miss the team meeting on Saturday and was told to return to his hotel to rest, having suffered from a stomach bug ahead of the weekend.

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Whilst he claimed a second consecutive fifth place finish, Hamilton struggled throughout the weekend at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, with the Mercedes driver having once again complained about a lack of confidence in the car.

Russell on the other hand, labelled the weekend as “probably one of my strongest weekends in F1”, with the 25-year-old having successfully claimed fourth.

The former Williams driver was comfortably quicker than Hamilton throughout the weekend, even when the 103-time race winner was on softer tyres.

READ: ‘Angry’ Toto Wolff will fire Mercedes employees after Saudi Arabian GP

Hamilton was behind Russell during the second half of the race on the medium compound, whilst Russell was on the hards.

Hamilton did manage to close the gap to Russell quickly; however, the King’s Lynn-born driver eventually built the gap back to around two-seconds.

With that in mind, Hamilton is certain that his weekend would’ve gone better had he taken his team-mate’s set-up.

“I think if I had the set-up George had,” Hamilton told Sky Sports F1, “I would have been in a better position.

“But yeah, there’s a lot to work on, but there are positives to take away.”

Hamilton went on to reveal after the race how the Mercedes duo decide on their set-up and how it’s typically Russell who chooses “the wrong one”.

“We work on that. There was like a 50/50 choice,” Hamilton revealed.

“I chose one way, he chose another. More often than not, where he went was the wrong one, but it just happened to work.

READ: Lewis Hamilton could copy Michael Schumacher amid Mercedes struggles

“So I could only match his pace rather than be quicker this weekend. But I’ll work hard to make sure that we’re in a better place.”

Hamilton does still remain ahead of Russell in the drivers’ championship by two points heading into next weekend’s Australian Grand Prix, where Russell claimed his first podium for Mercedes 12 months ago.

The young driver will be hoping for yet another rostrum at Albert Park, given that the Brackley-based team are yet to finish in the top three, as are Ferrari.

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The British driver demonstrated consistent pace throughout the race but was unable to challenge for a podium, due to Red Bull and Aston Martin having been too strong.

Despite having not had the pace for a podium, Russell was promoted to fourth for all of four hours, after Fernando Alonso was awarded a 10-second time penalty after the race.

The penalty was later revoked which saw Alonso reinstated onto the podium, dropping Russell back to fourth.

READ: Eddie Jordan demands rule change after Esteban Ocon nightmare

The former Williams driver, though, delivered his post-race interviews whilst technically in P3, with the Briton having admitted that Alonso’s penalty was “pretty harsh”.

“I’m pleased to come home in P4, but I think the penalty for Fernando was pretty harsh,” Russell said in the media pen.

“They are deserving podium finishers today. But I’ll take an extra trophy, so I’m not complaining too much.”

Alonso was awarded with a 10-second penalty momentarily, after it was initially deemed that he hadn’t correctly served an earlier five-second time penalty, for starting outside of his grid slot.

As a result, Russell wanted to remain behind Alonso during the race so that he could manage the gap to the Spaniard, to ensure that he gets promoted to third.

This caused some confusion, though, as Lewis Hamilton was right behind Russell on softer tyres.

Russell informed his team that he was looking after his tyres to keep him within a reasonable distance to Alonso; however, Russell was then told that the Spaniard had already served his penalty.

When this happened, many expected Mercedes to switch Russell and Hamilton, so that the latter could make the most of his softer rubber.

Interestingly, it was confirmed by Sky Sports F1 that Mercedes didn’t tell Russell to let Hamilton past, following claims that Russell disobeyed team orders.

Russell explained the situation with Alonso and Hamilton after the race, where he revealed that he “didn’t want” to fight his experienced team-mate, in fear that they’d lose out on a podium.

READ: Max Verstappen admits he’s ‘not happy’ after 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

“It was an interesting race. After the Safety Car, I was on the hards, Lewis was on the mediums. So he probably had a bit more pace in the beginning, I knew my pace was coming at the end. But there was a lot of confusion because I thought Fernando had a five-second penalty,” Russell told Sky Sports F1.

“So I didn’t want [Lewis and I] to be fighting among each other, and we both lose out to Fernando.

“I wanted to stay within distance, manage our tyres, then have a fair battle towards the end. I’m pleased with P4, the penalty to Fernando is pretty harsh. They are the deserving podium finishers. But I’m not complaining too much.”

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Hamilton endured a mixed Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, with the seven-time world champion having finished fifth after starting in seventh.

The Mercedes driver did well to capitalise on a Safety Car, which allowed the Briton to jump Charles Leclerc thanks to a cheap pit-stop.

He ultimately struggled for pace, though, and was unable to challenge team-mate George Russell for fourth, despite having softer tyres for the final stint.

READ: Felipe Massa makes massive Max Verstappen claim that will alarm Lewis Hamilton

He was somewhat downbeat after the race due to still not feeling “comfortable” in the W14; however, there was a bigger talking point.

Hamilton was asked about Red Bull’s RB19, with former rival Max Verstappen having stormed through the field from 15th.

The Dutchman went on to finish second, with the 25-year-old having made light work of Hamilton along the way.

Hamilton admitted after the race that he “didn’t even bother to block” Verstappen due to him being so fast, with the 103-time race winner going as far as saying that Red Bull’s 2023 car is faster than Mercedes ever were during their dominant era.

“I have definitely never seen a car so fast,” Hamilton said after the race.

“When we were fast, we were not that fast. It is the fastest car I have seen, especially compared to the rest. I don’t know how, but he [Verstappen] came past me with some serious speed and I didn’t even bother to block him because there was a massive speed difference.

“Everyone wants to see a close battle, but it is the way it is. It is not my problem, it is not my fault.”

Wolff, interestingly, disagrees with the veteran.

The Mercedes boss believes the Silver Arrows were “as strong” as Red Bull currently are during their dominant spell, where they were virtually unbeatable.

“We have had those years when we were as strong,” Wolff said.

Wolff went on to admit that Red Bull’s dominance “is not great for the show” but that he can relate to having the same said about Mercedes, with many having labelled the Germans dominance as boring.

“It is a meritocracy,” Wolff added.

READ: Eddie Jordan demands rule change after Esteban Ocon nightmare

“Even if it is not great for the show that the same guys win all the time, it is because they have done a good job and we haven’t.

“We shouldn’t down-talk it, because I remember hearing questions like that in 2014-2020, and what makes the sport so special is that you need to work hard to win and you deserve it as a matter of fact.

“Entertainment follows sport. It is maybe not good from the commercial side but it is what makes F1 so special.”

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