As the race in Jeddah progressed towards Lap 48, George Russell was told to pick up the pace and stay within 5 seconds of striking distance to Fernando Alonso in P2. That was because his race engineer suspected the Spaniard did not serve his 5-second time penalty correctly. Until then, the duo had 4.6 seconds separating them. As the race progressed to the final lap, Russell asked if there was any confirmation on Alonso’s penalty because he was “pushing like a madman”. That confirmation did not come until after Fernando took the P3 trophy on the podium.

Esteban Ocon had a similar race in Bahrain where he served not two, but three different time penalties. One for incorrect positioning at the start, like Alonso. Second for incorrectly serving the penalty, again like Alonso. The only difference was that the confirmation in Frenchman’s case came in promptly.

George Russell feels Fernando Alonso’s second penalty was harsh

Fernando’s misery resulted in joy for George as he took the P3 ahead of him. However, the Briton appeared sympathetic towards his grid mate. Speaking post-race in the media pen, Russell said, “There was a lot of confusion as I thought Fernando Alonso had a five-second penalty and I didn’t want to fight and both lose out to Fernando.”

“I think Fernando’s penalty was harsh. They are the deserved podium finishers but I will take the extra trophy and not complain too much!”

Have a look at how fans reacted to George’s kind words.

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Read More: “FIA Gone Mental”: Fernando Alonso’s Robbery in Broad Daylight Leaves F1 Fans Enraged

Others were not so kind and felt George’s first podium of the season was undeserved.

One fan even slammed FIA for an alleged British bias.

Part of the reason fans hating on Russell was his refusal to let Hamilton pass when the 7x champion was showing great pace after switching to medium tires. Hamilton probably could have given Alonso a better challenge for P3, judging by the way he was going then.

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Do you think FIA’s second penalty on Alonso was too harsh? Looking back, was Ocon’s second penalty too harsh? Do let us know in the comments.