The sports commissioners initially called Alpine’s protest against the penalty inadmissible. However, they accepted the subsequent request for review.
Friday night had two flavors for Alpine in Mexico. First came defeat and then victory.
In Austin, Alpine protested the 30-second penalty given to Alonso for dangerous driving – the Spaniard had a damaged car after colliding with Stroll. His mirror fell off during the race.
The protest failed
According to the sports commissioners, Alpine’s protest was inadmissible. The team did not and could not file a protest. He should have correctly declared his intention to appeal to the FIA Court of Appeal or request a review within 14 days, but he must add to it new facts that were not available to the sporting stewards at the time of their decision.
Review already yes
Alpine therefore immediately submitted a request for a review, which was already recognized by the sports commissioners. The team had originally complained that Haas lodged its protest 24 minutes after the time limit, which ends 30 minutes after the provisional race results are published. Sports commissioners have already appealed in Austin to the International Sports Code, which in certain cases allows them to recognize a protest even after this limit.
In order to review the decision, it is necessary to present new facts. Alpine presented new and significant evidence that “the team only learned at 20:53 on the day of the race that the original protest was lodged 24 minutes after the usual 30 minute time limit.”
So Alpine passed the “first stage”, where the sports commissioners check whether there are new facts.
At the next stage, it was found that Haas could have submitted a handwritten protest within the said 30-minute period. The deadline can be extended, but there must be reasons (for example, technical problems), which was not the case here.
This therefore meant that Haas’ original protest was inadmissible and became invalid, meaning Alonso returns to seventh place.
Interestingly, Haas race management said they had an hour to lodge a protest, despite the International Sporting Regulations stating 30 minutes.
“When asked by Alpine what facts led the stewards to their original decision, the chairman of the stewards announced that Haas had attended race headquarters to clarify the situation and was informed that he would have 1 hour to file a protest,” the stewards said in the minutes.
However, stewards are still concerned that the damaged car remained on the track. They want procedures to be introduced to deal with a similar situation. The decision adds that the FIA president has launched a review of the use of the black flag with an orange stripe.
