Alonso demoted by the FIA due to his rearview mirror

Haas has filed a complaint with the FIA regarding Fernando Alonso’s car after the USA Grand Prix. Haas believes that the safety measures were not followed due to the loose rearview mirror on the track during the race.

The rearview mirror did not withstand the impact.

Fernando Alonso experienced a huge crash when he collided with Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin during the race. Almost flipping over, the Alpine violently landed back on the track, then hitting the safety barrier. However, Alonso was able to continue after a wing and tire change, but not without consequences. The Spanish driver’s right rearview mirror started moving during the rest of his race and eventually broke, falling onto the circuit during the Grand Prix without hitting anyone.

The F1 cars must remain safe for the other competitors, and in this case, the track marshals did not at any point ask Alpine to go into the pits to fix the rearview mirror issue. In the event of danger to the car, a black flag with an orange circle is waved at the driver. Nothing was waved here, and Alonso was able to finish in the points.

Haas does not let it go.

The Haas team, which has experienced twice this season a request from the track marshals to have a problem fixed on Magnussen’s car, didn’t understand why Alonso and Perez were not subject to the same requests.

The Haas team has therefore lodged a complaint with the FIA against the Alonso and Perez cars, the latter having a broken piece of front wing on his Red Bull.

Alonso penalized.

After considering the complaint, the FIA has decided to penalize Alonso with a 30-second penalty, thus demoting the Alpine driver from 7th to 15th place, losing his points.

« The stewards are responsible for the fact that Alonso’s car did not have a waved orange and black flag during the race, or at least a radio request to fix the dangerous situation, despite Haas making two requests during the race. According to Article 3.2, cars must be safe for the drivers, and in this case, Alonso’s car was not. Therefore, the team is responsible for this. The stewards do not consider the incident at Suzuka 2019 as a precedent, and thus they give Alonso a 10-second stop-and-go penalty, which is equivalent to 30 seconds added to his final race time.

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On the other hand, Perez’s Red Bull car was deemed compliant and was not downgraded.

Alpine is appealing the decision.

Although the FIA has published the final ranking of the US Grand Prix 2022, Alpine does not want to let this penalty pass. Alpine indeed believes that the complaint made by Haas occurred 24 minutes after the legal deadline, but also believes that this cannot be justified, considering that the car was deemed compliant by the FIA after the race.

Alpine, who is fighting for 4th place in the constructors’ championship with McLaren, let slip a few points, and this decision could be crucial in the future of the championship. The appeal will be dealt with later.