Fernando Alonso’s penalty from the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix has been overturned.
It follows Alpine exercising its Right of Review which was made after its protest against Alonso’s penalty was dismissed as inadmissible.
The Spaniard was handed a 30-second post-race penalty at the Circuit of The Americas last weekend after he ended the race without a right-hand wing mirror.
Shortly after last weekend’s race, Haas protested Alonso, successfully arguing he should have received a black and orange flag during the race, forcing him to pit for repairs.
Alpine attempted to protest that submission on the basis that it was lodged after the allocated time period, however that was rejected by the Stewards who cited, ironically, that it was not lodged in time.
The Enstone-based squad promptly triggered the Right of Review process, arguing that the submission was “not impossible” to submit the protest within 30 minutes, as outlined by the International Sporting Code.
That requires teams to prove there is a significant new element that was not available at the time of the decision.
In this case, that was the revelation that Haas was advised by an FIA official in Race Control that the team had an hour to submit its protest, not 30 minutes as laid out in Article 13.3.5 of the FIA International Sporting code.
Article 13.3.5
Any alleged error, irregularity or breach of the regulations occurring during a Competition
No later than thirty minutes after the publication of the Provisional Classification, except:
– in circumstances where the stewards consider that compliance with the thirty minute deadline would be impossible,
– in the event of technical issues related to the notice board (Article 11.9.4 of the Code), or
– unless specified otherwise in the applicable sporting regulations or Supplementary Regulations
Alpine also argued the wording of the International Sporting Code, specifically the use of “impossible” in the above-noted Article, meant Haas’ initial protest should not have been accepted.
It also submitted that an FIA representative cannot give a competitor permission to contravene the ISC.
Haas noted that, had it been aware that it had only 30 minutes to make its submission and not the hour as informed by the FIA, then it would have lodged a handwritten protest within the deadline, as is allowed under the regulations.
Furthermore, it suggested Stewards could use their discretion on these matters as they had “supreme authority” over the application of the rules and had the power under the ISC to “settle any matter”.
“The Stewards accept the argument of Alpine that the word ‘impossible’ indeed sets a very high bar and that in hindsight, that very high bar was not met in this case,” the report noted.
“Of significant importance is the fact, unknown to the Stewards previously, that Haas could have lodged a handwritten protest within the 30-minute deadline.
“By definition, this fact alone means that it was not ‘impossible’ to lodge the protest within 30 minutes and therefore the Original Protest should not have been admitted.
“Accordingly the Stewards determine that the Original Protest was not admissible and therefore the Decision in Document 61 is rendered null and void.
“No penalty is to be applied to Car 14 and the Final Classification should be amended and reissued.”
Alonso will be reinstated in seventh as a result, having been originally classified 15th following the application of the 30-second penalty.
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