Fernando Alonso Slams FIA After "Poor Show" Losing His 100th Podium Finish

Alonso isn't happy, but still has plenty of optimism for himself and his team.

Fernando Alonso finished the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in P3, bringing home his 100th podium finish making him a centurion of F1. But after performing a 5-second penalty earlier in the race, it was later revealed that the FIA punished him with another 10-second penalty that pushed him to P4.

The second penalty stemmed from a member of the pit crew touching his car with a jack stand before the 5-seconds of the penalty had elapsed, and this was classed as 'working on the car' by the FIA who took over 60% of the race to decide the outcome of this.

Fans are disgusted with the FIA's decision, but Fernando Alonso is still feeling optimistic after the race with a wide smile on his face. 

"I was good and it doesn't hurt too much to be honest.

"I was on the podium, I did pictures, I took the trophy, I celebrated and now I have apparently three points less- I don't have 15, I have 12.

Despite his positive outlook, he believes the FIA should be disappointed with not their decision, but how long it took them to make it:

"I think it is more FIA, poor show today. More than disappointment from ourselves.

"You cannot apply a penalty 35 laps after the pitstop.

"They had enough time to inform about the penalty because even if I knew that maybe then I open up 11 seconds to the car behind.

"Today, we didn't put on a good show for our fans.

"I know the team is trying to review it with the stewards now because we didn't understand fully the second penalty.

"I care, but I don't care that much as I have celebrated and now I have three points less? OK, let's try and recover in Australia.

"We had some concerns about Jeddah after being very strong in Bahrain but arguably here, we were faster than Bahrain on race pace.

"We could control the Ferraris, we could control Mercedes and I don't want to be too optimistic but it looks pretty good for the future."

We'll look forward to the next race, the Australian Grand Prix, where we're sure Alonso will receive his 100th podium. Let's cross our fingers and for now, celebrate the fact that he's in a car with performance worthy of his talent.