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'FIA approves driving with one mirror in future, is not unsafe'

29 October 2022 at 18:12
Last update 29 October 2022 at 19:14
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  • GPblog.com

Fernando Alonso lost his seventh place in the United States after a protest by Haas F1 after the Grand Prix. Alpine appealed against that again and the stewards decided this weekend that Alonso would still be allowed to keep his six World Cup points. Meanwhile, it is also clear that losing a mirror will presumably not result in a 'meatball' flag in the future.

Haas F1 was of the opinion that Alonso had driven an unsafe car at the Circuit of the Americas. Indeed, the two-time world champion had lost his mirror. So at first the stewards vindicated Haas F1 by imposing a 30-second time penalty on Alonso, but the protest was declared inadmissible because it was filed too late. Just under a week later, the stewards even took the view that driving without a single mirror would not be penalised in future.

FIA and teams entered talks

However, the FIA and the teams have talked to each other and the conclusion seems to be that driving with one mirror should not be seen as unsafe. That reports The Race Friday from Mexico. Damage to the wing endplate near the front wing will also not meet the threshold of 'safety risk' in the future. Several tests have also been done and the results will make for happy faces at the race stables.

In recent weeks, there had been a lot of criticism of the race organisers allegedly waving the black flag with an orange dot too often. There would now be a much clearer definition of what is and what is not safe. So in the future, we will see a lot less of the meatball flag again, just like before.