Fernando Alonso was heroic at the US GP after he crashed with Lance Stroll, his teammate the next year, on the straight after the Canadian tried to block his overtaking move. The 2-time world champion went airborne and managed to land the car and take it back to the pits and came out roaring. He finished the race in P7 behind Lando Norris. But due to some damage during the fag end of the race he lost his rear-view mirror which had been dangling.
Usually, the race directors instruct the car to come in so that the dangling part is removed, but Alonso lost the rear-view mirror of his Alpine before this was done. Post the race, the Haas team complained to the stewards about the issue, and he was issued a 30-second penalty which now drags the Spaniard out of the points and ensures that Alpine lost ground to McLaren for P4 in the world championship.
Alonso finished P7 in the race, but was handed a 30-second time penalty later.
Alpine now in response to the Haas complaint has issued a rebuttal and claimed that firstly the complaint was made after the given mandatory period and explained that no one from the FIA raised an issue while the rear-view mirror had been dangling. In fact, the car also cleared scrutiny. Now, Alpine and Haas teams will meet the stewards in Mexico when the weekend starts for the next race.
Alpine’s protest was challenged by Haas but only on Tuesday, a conclusion to the weird penalty will happen. For Alonso, this is unfortunate as it was a heroic drive as he muscled a damaged car well within points after a scary high-speed crash. He has also faced many retirements during the season which is the reason Esteban Ocon leads him in the championship points.
