Alpine protest against Alonso penalty deemed inadmissible

But Alpine has already submitted a right of review for the stewards’ ruling, meaning the saga will rumble on as it looks to regain Alonso’s seventh-place finish.

Haas lodged a protest against Alonso’s car following the race in Austin on Sunday on the grounds that his car was unsafe due to a loose and ultimately missing right mirror, following damage sustained in the crash with Lance Stroll.

The stewards’ agreed with Haas’s assessment and handed Alonso a 30-second post-race penalty, dropping him from seventh to 15th.

Alpine quickly issued a counter-protest, with Alonso saying on Thursday in Mexico that it would create a “huge problem” for F1 if it deemed damaged cars to be unsafe that would force “50, 60, 70%” of cars to retire.

Alpine’s protest claimed that Alonso had not been informed by race control that his car was damaged, and also argued that Haas had submitted its protest 24 minutes after the deadline.

It emerged in the hearing that Haas was informed by the chair of the stewards via race control that it had an hour to submit the protest after the race.

But the main downfall of Alpine’s protest was that it could not actually submit one against a decision of the stewards, per the FIA’s International Sporting Code.

“According to the FIA International Sporting Code, there is no ability or right for any party to ‘protest’ a decision of the Stewards nor against a summons to a hearing,” the stewards’ statement reads.

The proper course of action from Alpine would have been to lodge an appeal with the FIA International Court of Appeal.

“To do that it would have to have given notice of intention to appeal to the Stewards within one hour of the Decision, as prescribed in the FIA International Sporting Code and the FIA Judicial and Disciplinary Rules,” said the stewards, who also noted Alpine’s protest came in one hour and eight minutes after the initial decision was made.

“Alternatively, should a significant and new element be discovered (by Alpine), it could petition the Stewards under Article 14 of the Code, for a review,” the statement added. “That option remains available for 14 days after the end of the Competition.”

Alpine has now lodged a right of review against the initial decision that found Haas’s protest to be admissible, with a hearing also set for Thursday evening in Mexico.