Alpine is to protest the admissibility of the Haas protest that led to Fernando Alonso being demoted from 7th to 15th.

Shortly after the race, Haas protested the cars of Sergio Perez and Alonso for continuing to race whilst in an unsafe condition - namely the loose endplate on the Mexican's car and the missing mirror on the Spaniard's.

Haas was concerned that while both cars were allowed to continue, three times this season its drivers have been shown the black-and-orange flag having incurred damage that, as far as the stewards were concerned, necessitated immediate repair.

While the protest of the Red Bull was thrown out, that of the Alpine was upheld and the driver handed a 10s penalty, which post-race amounted to 30s, thereby dropping him from 7th out of the points to 15th.

The French team has now protested the decision.

"BWT Alpine F1 Team is disappointed to receive a post-race time penalty for Car #14 from today’s United States Grand Prix, which unfortunately means Fernando moves to outside the points-paying positions," it said in a statement.

"The team acted fairly and deemed the car remained structurally safe as a result of Fernando's incident with Lance Stroll on lap 22 of the race with the right-side rear view wing mirror detaching from the chassis as a result of accident damage caused by Stroll.

"The FIA has the right to black and orange flag a car during the race if they consider it unsafe and, on this occasion, they assessed the car and decided not to action the flag. Moreover, after the race, the FIA technical delegate considered the car legal.

The team also believes due to the protest being lodged 24 minutes past the specified deadline, it should not have been accepted and therefore the penalty should be considered as invalid.

"As a result of this point, the team has protested the admissibility of the original Haas F1 Team protest."

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by LiamIII, 25/10/2022 18:14

"@alvarezh3

As an American I'm not sure how much more "enhancements" I can take from un-Liberty messing with my beloved F1. Spend the money & innovate gentlemen."

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2. Posted by Chester, 24/10/2022 17:11

"If the breach is not caught during the race, changing race results after-the-fact is simply not correct. What a joke. My esteem for Alonso has only grown, recovering places without the missing mirror.
And my esteem for the FIA is much lower."

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3. Posted by alvarezh3, 24/10/2022 16:39

"Correction....even worst, FAKE BEACH!"

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4. Posted by alvarezh3, 24/10/2022 16:37

"Totally with you LiamIII

McLaren is using Digital (electronic) signs and they can't have rear facing cameras? Come on!

I saw an inside view of a race car cockpit at a Sebring 12 hour race where the driver had a warning system for an approaching car. Why does the alleged "most advanced engineered" racing car in the world does not have a similar system? Oh, wait, my bad, the fake pool in Miami takes engineering preference!"

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5. Posted by LiamIII, 24/10/2022 13:54

"Mirrors are antiquated. There should be two wide angle rear facing cameras projected onto the visor or on two small screens for the drivers. Are these not the most technologically advanced cars in the world? How about proximity alarms in corners? I could go on..."

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6. Posted by ian_w, 24/10/2022 12:40

"Alonso lost his mirror, which is really a piece of safety equipment. As soon as it broke off, if not sooner, Race Control should have deemed it unsafe. Failure to do so lies with Race Control. If they failed to notify the team, Alpine should have known better as well. Unfortunate, but correct.

Mind you, such a penalty under the circumstances is harsh. At the same time, Haas is has good grounds to stand on as being picked upon.

How many times do you hear, "I could not see him in my mirror"? That perhaps suggests they are rather ineffective for purpose as safety equipment? IIRC, FIA is mandating larger mirrors and a more outbound placement for next year."

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7. Posted by Pavlo, 24/10/2022 10:50

"If someone is to be penalized here, it's FIA.
Why does this require a protest by Haas at all, as well as all other cases? People often say "Lewis is complaining", but it looks like it's the reality - if Mercedes wouldn't report breaches by the competitor, the stewards would ignore it.
The fact that Haas didn't get back the fee for protesting Perez is wrong here. They have proven that on one instance Jo Bauer didn't do the job. Not only he missed the damaged mirror during the race, he even failed to notice absence of it and signed the post-race scrutineering. How would teams now have any trust that situation with any other car (e.g. Perez) was considered at all, and why do they have to pay for it?
With Perez, it was absolutely obvious that the car was damaged. FIA and RB now say that they discussed it, but this information was not made public, so I don't see why Haas has to pay."

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8. Posted by Motorsport-fan, 24/10/2022 10:49

"To many petty rules."

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Alpine to protest Alonso penalty

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