Fernando Alonso of Alpine F1 Team. Photo: Luis Licona/AFP
By Janina Nuno Rios
Alpine have won their bid to overturn Fernando Alonso's penalty at the U.S. Grand Prix after the double world champion had lost seventh place as stewards upheld a protest from Formula One rivals Haas about the safety of his car.
Alonso had dropped out of the points in Austin last Sunday when stewards upheld a post-race Haas protest against him being allowed to continue with a loose mirror that eventually fell off and risked hurting someone.
Renault-owned Alpine then protested the admissibility of the Haas protest and a video hearing was scheduled at the Mexican Grand Prix on Thursday with the U.S. stewards on whether to consider Alpine's protest.
"BWT Alpine F1 Team thanks the FIA stewards for convening and reaching a positive conclusion on the matter involving Car #14 from last weekend's United States Grand Prix," Alpine said in a statement.
"The team welcomes the decision made by the aforementioned stewards, whereby Car #14 reinstates its seventh place finish and six points from the race.
"We look forward to continuing our collaborative work alongside the FIA to ensure the racing spectacle is maintained to the highest quality. The team now looks forward to competing this weekend at the Mexico City Grand Prix."
Alonso had said on Thursday that he expected his demotion to be overturned and warned the sport otherwise risked creating a "huge problem".
Alpine said last Sunday that Haas had lodged their protest 24 minutes too late and it should not have been accepted. (Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Stephen Coates)
Reuters