Thirty-second time penalty for Alonso: 'Stewards are shocked'

The race organisers of the United States Grand Prix have made a sweeping decision following Haas F1's appeal over Fernando Alonso and Alpine. The Spaniard will receive a 30-second time penalty.

Haas was outraged after the race by the selective action of the FIA. While a black flag with an orange dot was waved several times this season for one of the Haas drivers, the same was not done for Sergio Perez of Red Bull Racing and Alonso. This flag is meant for drivers who have damage to their car, creating a dangerous situation on the road. The US team filed a protest with the FIA.

Perez with a scare, Alonso 30-second time penalty

The FIA rejected the protest over car number 11. Perez's damage was not such as to create a dangerous situation. The endplate of the Mexican's front wing broke off quickly from his RB18 and did not stick. With car number 14, it is a different story. Alonso gets a penalty because the stewards believe Alonso should not have been allowed on the track without a thorough check after the heavy crash with Lance Stroll.

In an official FIA document, the stewards say they are shocked that Alonso was not given the black flag with an orange dot. The stewards argue that an F1 car must be safe throughout the race and car number 14 was not: "That is the responsibility of the team. " In the end, it is the driver who is particularly severely punished. Alonso was to receive a 10-second stop-and-go penalty, but as the race was already over, it was converted to a 30-second time penalty. Alonso is dropped from P7 to P15 after his titanic race.

Alpine strikes back

However, the team will not leave it at that. Alpine is going to lodge a protest with the FIA over Haas' protest, the team announced on Twitter. According to Alpine, Haas was 24 minutes late to file the protest over the race. With this protest, Alpine also automatically objects to the time penalty that Alonso received.