After a hearing in Mexico on Thursday, the FIA stewards decided that Alpine's challenge against Fernando Alonso's Formula 1 United States Grand Prix penalty was not valid.
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Since Alpine has already filed a right of appeal against the stewards’ decision, the saga will continue as it attempts to get back Alonso’s seventh-place finish. Following the race in Austin on Sunday, Haas filed a protest against Alonso’s car on the grounds that it was dangerous due to a loose and ultimately missing right mirror, as a result of damage from the collision with Lance Stroll. The stewards gave Alonso a 30-second post-race penalty, dropping him from seventh to fifteenth. They agreed with Haas’ assessment. Alpine swiftly responded with a counter-protest, with Alonso declaring on Thursday in Mexico that if damaged cars were declared unsafe, “50, 60, 70%” of the field would have to retire, posing a “big problem” for Formula One.
In addition to arguing that Haas had lodged its objection 24 minutes after the deadline, Alpine asserted that Alonso had not been alerted by race control that his car was damaged. In the hearing, it was revealed that Haas had been given an hour after the race to submit the objection after being notified by the chair of the stewards via race control. The International Sporting Code of the FIA prevented Alpine from really submitting a protest against a stewards’ ruling, which was the fundamental reason for its failure.
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The stewards’ statement states that no party has the right or ability to “contest” a decision made by the Stewards or against a summons to a hearing under the FIA International Sporting Code. It would have been appropriate for Alpine to file an appeal with the FIA International Court of Appeal. “To do that it would have to have given notice of intention to appeal to the Stewards within one hour of the Decision, as prescribed in the FIA International Sporting Code and the FIA Judicial and Disciplinary Rules,” said the stewards, who added that Alpine’s objection was submitted one hour and eight minutes after the initial choice was decided.
“Alternatively, should a significant and new element be discovered (by Alpine), it could petition the Stewards under Article 14 of the Code, for a review,” the statement added. “That option remains available for 14 days after the end of the Competition.” With a hearing scheduled for Thursday night in Mexico, Alpine has now requested a review of the earlier ruling that ruled Haas’s protest valid.
