F1: Alonso’s 7th place in USGP reinstated (Update)

Fernando Alonso’s penalty in last weekend’s United States Grand Prix has been overturned after Alpine succeeded in their bid to have the Haas protest that led to it dismissed.

On Sunday night in Austin, Haas lodged a protest on the grounds that Alonso – who took the flag in seventh place – had finished the race in a car in an unsafe condition, following his high-speed collision with Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin.

Alonso was given a 30-second post-race penalty, which meant the two-time champion was demoted to 15th place in the classified results, losing him six world championship points.

Alpine disputed Haas’s protest on the grounds that it had been lodged too late – 24 minutes past the specified deadline – but the FIA concluded in Mexico City that “there is no ability or right for any party to “protest” a decision of the Stewards nor against a summons to a hearing.”

However, Alpine then asked for a right of review in light of new evidence and a further hearing on Thursday evening ultimately resulted in Haas’s original protest being deemed inadmissible as it was adjudged the team could have submitted it within the required time limits.

It means Alonso’s seventh place and six points from Austin will be reinstated.

Alpine and Haas have had their United States Grand Prix protest dispute delayed until Thursday by the FIA.

Several hours after the USGP had finished, Haas submitted a double protest against the result, which was aimed at the Red Bull and Alpine teams.

The reason was that Haas was miffed that no black-and-orange flag being shown to either Sergio Perez or Fernando Alonso when they were driving with parts hanging off their cars, which they perceived as a safety issue.

Haas team principal Guenther Steiner admitted the protests had been made to make a point to the FIA, with his driver Kevin Magnussen having been shown the black-and-orange flag three times this season after incurring damage to his front wing.

Although the protest against Red Bull was thrown out, the one against Alpine was upheld and Alonso received a 30-second retrospective time penalty that dropped him from seventh place to 15th and out of the points.

That meant Kevin Magnussen, who was scoring Haas’ first points since the Austrian Grand Prix, climbed from ninth to eighth.

Alpine launched a counter-protest, claiming Haas had submitted their complaint 24 minutes after the deadline had passed to do so.

Now the FIA have summoned both teams to a video hearing from their respective locations at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, venue for the Mexican Grand Prix, on Thursday October 27th.

The reason for the hearing is given as being “to determine the admissibility or otherwise of the protest lodged by Alpine against the decision of the stewards of the 2022 United States Grand Prix to find the protest lodged by Haas F1 Team as admissible”.

A note is added to say that if the Alpine protest is deemed admissible, a separate hearing of the protest itself will be convened, with all parties to be advised of the time and date.