Alpine to protest sanction against Alonso in US GP

Alpine disagrees with the US Grand Prix stewards' decision to sanction Fernando Alonso after the race following a protest from Haas, and has officially contested the penalty handed to the Spaniard.

Alonso finished seventh on the track, but a post-race 30-second penalty decided by the stewards pushed the Spaniard out of the points and down to P15 in the final standings.

The stewards' decision was based on a protest lodged by Haas which claimed that a loose mirror - which eventually fell off - on Alonso's car, caused by the Spaniard's spectacular run-in with Lance Stroll, constituted a case of an unsafe car racing on track.

But Alpine responded by stating that it had "acted fairly and deemed the car remained structurally safe" despite the collision.

• Read also: Haas successful protest sends Alonso out of the points!

"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," the team said.

"Moreover, after the race, the FIA technical delegate considered the car legal."

Haas said that its team manager Peter Crolla had twice contacted race control to report the loose mirror on Alonso's car, but no action was taken.

In their post-race report, the stewards acknowledged that the black-and-orange flag was never deployed, but added that they were "deeply concerned" by the lack of reaction on the matter during the race of FIA race director Niels Wittich.

Finally, Alpine also took exception to Haas' protest due to the fact that it was 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," concluded the French outfit.

The crux of the matter appears to be race control's complete lack of reaction to Haas' two in-race warnings, a fact confirmed by the stewards' report that interestingly hints at Wittich being at fault for not making a call in real time on the Alpine's loose mirror.

On that basis, it's hard to imagine how Haas' protest won't be overturned and Alonso reinstated as having finished seventh.

Nevertheless, should Alpine's counter-protest be deemed admissible, a decisive hearing is likely to take place ahead of this week's Mexican Grand Prix.

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