FIA stewards have rejected Alpine’s bid to reinstate Fernando Alonso to the United States Grand Prix, protesting the decision.
However, Alpine was not prepared to give up its fight to reclaim seventh place from Alonso and immediately asked the stewards for a review. Trials will begin at 8:45 a.m. this weekend in Mexico City.
Alonso was penalized during Sunday’s race after Haas raised a protest against the team, saying his car was in an unsafe condition. Crashed off the A522 after 38 minutes after the right wing mirror was damaged in a collision with Lance Stroll.
The stewards agreed with Haas and penalized Alpine on the grounds that they were responsible for the safety of the car. Race director Nils Wittich also worried that his failure to show the black and orange flag to Alonso would force him into the pits for repairs.
Haas has brought the parade on three previous occasions, this year they had to celebrate the same flag. It is worth noting that the temporary running group did not protest within 30 minutes, and the coordinators admitted in their first judgment that “it was 24 minutes out of time.”
However, international sports referees can make exceptions to this rule “in situations where the referees consider it impossible to respect the thirty-minute time limit.” In their original ruling, the stewards began by saying, “In this case, the deadline could not be met and the objection is upheld.”
Alpine tried to challenge the decision in today’s protest. However, the stewards rejected their attempt for several reasons. These include the fact that Alpine’s objection was filed so late – one hour and eight minutes after the ruling on Haas’s original objection.
The stewards also pointed out that they cannot oppose the decision and call for hearing. “The appropriate course of action for Alpine if it did not agree with the stewards’ decision was to appeal to the FIA International Court of Appeal and to do so it should have given notice of its intention to appeal to the stewards within one hour of the decision being made as stipulated in the FIA International Sporting Law and the FIA Referee and Disciplinary Regulations.” He said.
“Alternatively,” he added, “an important and new substance (by Alpine) should be found, it can ask the stewards according to article 14 of the law for evaluation. This option will last for 14 days after the end of the race. While still in that window, Alpine has now used this opportunity.”
Earlier on Thursday, Alonso said he was “very confident” the penalty would be overturned and warned F1 would face “big problems” if not.
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2022 Mexican Grand Prix
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