After the cancellation of the United States Grand Prix, the penalty received by Fernando Alonso and the driver’s return to seventh place, his team successfully appealed to the stewards to review their decision.
Alonso was heavily criticized for his decision to add 30 seconds to his season penalty, which left him 15th in the standings. Following objections from rivals Haas, the stewards first ruled that Alpine had caused his car to run unsafely after a collision with Lance Stroll, which caused the right-hand mirror to fall.
Alpine succeeded in showing the stewards that they had made a mistake in accepting Haas’ objections that the decision came too late. The decision was reached following two hearings involving the teams and stewards on Thursday, the first of which was dismissed by the stewards as Alpine’s initial objection was inadmissible.
However, the team reserves the right to request a review of the incident if it can establish new evidence. He did this in part on the basis of the information he obtained during the two protest hearings.
In the organizers’ first ruling last week, Haas submitted his objection 24 minutes after the time had elapsed, which was 30 minutes after the provisional classification of the competition. Alpine did not learn of that fact until the first hearing in the US District Circuit.
It then emerged that during Thursday’s protest hearing, an FIA race control official had informed Haas that he had one hour to present his protest over 30 minutes. While Alpine submitted this new information, arguing that the objection could have been filed on time, Haas “could have filed a handwritten objection within the 30-minute time limit.”
Speaking to the media at the circuit on Thursday, Haas team principal Guenther Steiner pointed out that he could have submitted his objection earlier. When asked why he filed the protest 24 minutes late, he replied, “Because we were in no rush.”
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The trustees agreed to review whether Haas’s initial objection should have been taken into account because Alpine’s submission contained a “significant and relevant new element”.
Alpine argued that the stewards could not allow teams to breach international sporting law. Although the ISC allows stewards to accept objections filed after the deadline if timely filing is “impossible,” Alpine successfully argued that Haas’s objection could have been filed earlier.
“The trustees accept Alpin’s argument that the word ‘impossible’ really sets the bar too high and, on the face of it, that too high a bar was not met in this case,” he said.
“Most important is the fact that Haas filed a handwritten protest within the 30-minute deadline, previously unknown to the stewards. By definition, this fact alone meant that it was not ‘impossible’ to raise the objection within 30 minutes, so the first objection should not have been accepted.
Therefore, the trustees reversed their decision to accept Haas’s original objection. As a result, no penalty will be imposed on car 14 [Alonso] And the final classification should be revised and reissued.”
However, the stewards reiterated their concern about the safety lapses that caused Alonso’s glass to fall on the circuit long after he was injured in the crash.
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“Despite the above decisions, the stewards are concerned that car 14 glass is allowed to remain suspended and eventually collapses. It is necessary to get the car back to the pits so that it can be fixed, as has been done many times in the past, with a radio call to the team or by showing the black and orange flag. “Teams are responsible under Article 3.2 of the FIA Formula 1 Sporting Regulations.”
The controversy arose following two objections Haas brought to the cars during the race. Sergio Perez’s Red Bull is another sacked. Haas driver Kevin Magnussen was shown the black and orange flag on three separate occasions this year, forcing him to pit for repairs, while neither Alonso nor Perez were treated the same. FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulaiman announced that “a review has begun on the use of the black and orange flag”.
Alpine welcomed the stewards’ decision and Alonso’s return to seventh in the final standings. While Alonso gained six points in the decision, Alonso’s team-mate Esteban Ocon dropped from 10th to 11th, adding just five points to his team’s tally.
“The BWT Alpine F1 Team would like to thank the FIA stewards for meeting and reaching a positive conclusion on the matter relating to car 14 of the United States Grand Prix last weekend,” he said in a statement.
“The team welcomes the decision made by the previously mentioned stewards, whereby car 14 [is reinstated to] He placed seventh and earned six points from the tournament. We look forward to continuing our partnership with the FIA to ensure the quality of the racing scene.
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2022 Mexican Grand Prix
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