US GP: Fernando Alonso retains P7 after air-borne crash

Haas protested against him for being allowed to continue with a loose mirror.

Turns out that the United States GP, which was held last weekend, gets its final result after five days of jurisdictions. In the latest developments, Alpine have won their bid to overturn Fernando Alonso's penalty at the United States GP after he had lost his P7 finish.

Alonso had dropped out of the points in Austin last Sunday when stewards upheld a post-race penalty against him for leaving an unsafe condition out on the track. Haas protested against him being allowed to continue with a loose mirror that eventually fell off and risked hurting someone.

Renault-owned Alpine then protested the admissibility of the Haas protest and a video hearing was scheduled at the Mexican Grand Prix on Thursday with the US stewards on whether to consider Alpine's protest.

Cause of the initial penalty

After Bottas spun out into the gravel, the safety car came out. At the end of the safety car, Fernando Alonso found himself behind his future teammate Lance Stroll. As soon as the safety car ended, Stroll tried to move the left in the back straight. Alonso did the same and it was just a little too quick for him to avoid the shunt. He went airborne on the front two wheels and managed to come out with only a damaged front wing. Stroll, however, was left with an undrivable car.

A few laps after the incident, Alonso lost one of his mirrors which was apparently left loose on the track. Haas didn't like it and made a protest against this

In what is considered one of his greatest drives, Alonso made a strong comeback to finish the race on P7. After around five hours, the stewards came with an announcement that the Spaniard will be receiving a 30-second time penalty, which threw him back to P15.

Alpine's Statement

"BWT Alpine F1 Team thanks the FIA stewards for convening and reaching a positive conclusion on the matter involving Car #14 from last weekend's United States Grand Prix," Alpine said in a statement."The team welcomes the decision made by the aforementioned stewards, whereby Car #14 reinstates its seventh-place finish and six points from the race.

"The team welcomes the decision made by the aforementioned stewards, whereby Car #14 reinstates its seventh-place finish and six points from the race. We look forward to continuing our collaborative work alongside the FIA to ensure the racing spectacle is maintained to the highest quality. The team now looks forward to competing this weekend at the Mexico City Grand Prix."

Alonso had said on Thursday that he expected his demotion to be overturned and warned the sport otherwise risked creating a "huge problem." Alpine said last Sunday that Haas had lodged their protest 24 minutes too late and it should not have been accepted.