Formula 1 team bosses expect the black-and-orange flag to be used less often in future following the dispute which arose at the United States Grand Prix.
Fernando Alonso was given a post-race penalty which cost him seventh place after Haas raised a protest against his car. The team claimed it had run in an unsafe condition after its right-hand mirror fell off several laps after it was damaged in a collision with Lance Stroll.
Alonso was reinstated to his seventh place when Haas’s protest was overturned on a technicality on Thursday. However the stewards queried why Alonso had not been shown the black-and-orange flag before the mirror fell off.
The black-and-orange flag is used by race control to compel teams to immediately bring a car into the pits to address a mechanical problem or matter of safety. Alonso drove for almost 40 minutes with his right-hand wing mirror shaking loose. It eventually broke off, leading Haas to protest the result of the race due to perceived inconsistency in the use of the flag. Its driver Kevin Magnussen has been shown the flag three times in 2022, costing him valuable places each time.
Speaking in the teams’ press conference on Saturday, Alpine sporting director Alan Permane said they were pleased Alonso’s 30-second post-race time penalty applied by the stewards had been cancelled, and that the FIA was in dialogue with teams about how to handle similar situations in future.
“We had some very positive discussions [on Friday] with the FIA technical department,” Permane explained. “I think they agreed that things have gone a little bit too far.
“I don’t think anyone – maybe apart from Haas – felt that having a mirror knocked off in an accident that wasn’t your fault, and then that drive Fernando did, merited [that he should not] have kept that seventh place.
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“I think from here onwards small damages – like a mirror, like a front-wing endplate – if it’s non-structural – like a brake duct, something like that – will not be considered to be a black-and-orange flag offence.
“This is still ongoing. I’m sure at the technical advisory committee and the sporting advisory committee, those levels will discuss it more. But a little bit of a line in the sand has been drawn and hopefully there’ll be better racing because of it.”
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