'Red Bull already proved to FIA during race that Perez front wing was safe'
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- GPblog.com
Martin Brundle has commented on the situation regarding Haas F1's protests in his column for Sky Sports . The American racing stable went into protest with the FIA because they did not understand why Sergio Perez and Fernando Alonso were allowed to continue in the Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas with a damaged car. Brundle understands Haas F1's position, but he is not sure if this is the way to go.
Kevin Magnussen was already brought in by the FIA three times this year to have the front wing replaced when it was damaged and a part was a bit loose. Race control waved the 'meatball' flag and stated that Magnussen had to make a pit stop for repair work for safety reasons.
Such a pit stop obviously takes a disproportionate amount of time and always comes at an inappropriate time. But why then did Perez and Alonso, with damage to their cars, not have to go in? That was what Haas F1 wanted to get clear with its protest. Team principle Guenther Steiner stated that the approach was to hold the FIA accountable.
No Perez penalty, Alonso penalised though
Sergio Perez lost his frontwing endplate (pictured in the article), but thus just drove on. Brundle revealed that Red Bull Racing had switched with the FIA about this. "The front wing upright also fell off Sergio Perez's Red Bull, but by sending images and details to the FIA scrutineer during the race the team were able to justify that it was safe to continue without this piece intact." Alonso was driving without a right-hand mirror at one point and that did prove a thorn in the side of the stewards, who revealed they were"shocked" that race control had not intervened.
"They are racers, I don't really blame them, they wanted consistency and clarification, and also to maximise their championship points for Magnussen," Brundle continued. "Post race it was decided to uphold the protest against Alonso's car but not Perez's car. And so after all of his adventures and bravery Alonso was given a 30-second penalty and dropped from seventh to 15th - which hurts Alpine in their fight with McLaren too."
Brundle wants to appeal to 'common sense'
The former Formula 1 driver believes that there are rules to enforce and he would not mind if some rules were applied more strictly, but whether they should be in this case.... "They need some racers' common sense to go with them. Deciding whose front wing is safe when partly broken and whose isn't is rather subjective I would have thought, and Felipe Massa for example knows very well what it's like to be hit by discarded parts."