Alonso performed an outstanding race in Austin, at the Circuit of the Americas, despite a 5-place grid penalty and a major accident with Stroll that forced him to return to the pit.
Finally finishing 7th with one less rearview mirror, the FIA deemed the situation dangerous after the fact and sided with Haas by penalizing Alpine with a stop-and-go penalty, which equates to an additional 30 seconds added to their race time at the finish line.
Going from 7th to 15th place, Alonso loses valuable points in the constructor’s championship, and Alpine doesn’t want to let this matter slip away. It must be said that the faults are acknowledged within the FIA itself, and Alpine could therefore be right.
In a press release, Alpine acknowledged the FIA’s arguments to penalize car number 14 of Alonso and countered them.
The Alpine team is disappointed to receive a post-race penalty for car number14, which means that Fernando Alonso is out of the points. The team acted fairly and considered the car to remain structurally safe after the incident with Lance Stroll in lap 22, even though the right rearview mirror detached from the chassis. This is explained in the statement.
Alpine thus takes on board the arguments of the FIA, which explain not having waved the orange and black flag and not having said anything during the race, by demonstrating that they did not intentionally take the necessary steps at that time.
« The FIA has the right to use the black and orange flag to indicate that the car is dangerous, but they deemed it unnecessary after analyzing the situation. Then, the FIA deemed the car legal after seeing it in the Parc Fermé. »
« The team also believes that Haas’ claim was made 24 minutes after the legal deadline, and therefore it should not have been considered by the FIA, and therefore the penalty is also not valid. As a result, the team protests the admissibility of Haas’ claim.
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Alpine’s call is crucial to secure valuable points and potentially maintain their 4th place in the constructors’ championship at the end of the season. Alpine is currently battling McLaren in the constructors’ championship, and the two teams are now separated by only 6 points, while Alpine had a 13-point advantage heading into Austin.
The FIA has not yet announced the eligibility of the appeal.
