Fernando Alonso has claimed the post-race penalty he received at the United States Grand Prix opens Pandora’s box given the way the Haas protest was managed.
Alonso was handed a 30-second post-race penalty following the Circuit of The Americas encounter after Stewards decreed he should have been shown the black and orange flag for damage on his car.
That stemmed from a clash with Lance Stroll when the pair made contact shortly after the first Safety Car.
Running in the slipstream of the Aston Martin ahead, Alonso pulled left to pass only for his rival to do likewise in defence.
In the eyes of the Stewards, the move was too late, with Stroll predominantly to blame for the clash which saw the Alpine thrown skyward, landing with a 42G impact.
It damaged the front wing on the car but the team was otherwise satisfied it could continue, Alonso going on to cross the line in seventh.
“We talked already after the race in his garage and then in the Stewards room because we had to go there,” the two-time world champion explained.
“My view, it was the same after the race and the same in the Stewards room, and the same now.
“I think it was an unlucky moment of the race. We moved simultaneously more or less to the left, we were very close to the slipstream until the last moment.
“It was not DRS on the first laps after the Safety Car goes in, so I have to take the slipstream quite aggressively until the very last moment.
“I moved to the left, he moved to the left in the same moment, more or less, protecting and we touched.
“So I think it was a very unlucky moment. You know I think his penalty is very harsh, but it is the way it is.”
While cleared to carry on racing by his team, Alonso shed his right-side wing mirror late in the race.
That prompted a post-race protest from Haas which resulted in a time penalty being added, dropping the Spaniard from seventh to 15th.
Alpine has subsequently protest Haas’ original protest, arguing the validity of it.
“You cannot appeal any decision of time penalty, so that’s how the rules are written, which is nice, because whatever decision you take, you cannot appeal,” Alonso explained.
“We protest basically because it was out of time, and there were a couple of things; that the FIA was not showing me the black and orange flag, so they felt that the car was safe to keep driving; the car went to parc ferme, passed all the scrutineering, green light on parc ferme, and then the protests arrive too late.
“So between all I think there is no doubt that this was not the right decision to take. And if this is the right decision to take, it will open a huge problem for the future in Formula 1,” he added
“I think 50, 60, 70 percent of the cars will have to retire the car when they have an aerodynamic device that is not properly fixed because it’s going to be unsafe, the car.
“It will open also, if 20 minutes too late it’s okay to protest, is one month too late? Is one hour too late? Is 10 years too late? When it’s too late?
“So that I think we cannot afford.
“This is a very important day for our sport. I don’t care about seventh, I’m not fighting for the world championship, but if this goes ahead I think we don’t want to open that box.”
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