The Renault Formula One team and Spain’s Fernando Alonso were given the green light to compete in Valencia this weekend after getting their one-race suspension overturned.
FIA said that its court of appeal had decided to reduce the sanction to a reprimand and $50,000 fine.
The race ban, handed out by stewards in Hungary last month, had threatened to prevent double world champion Alonso from appearing before his home crowd in Sunday’s European Grand Prix.
Renault, who had argued the suspension would also have “severe consequences” for local organisers as well as hitting fans who had bought tickets in the expectation of Alonso racing, welcomed the decision.
“The team acknowledges sporting regulations were breached during the incident in the pit lane of the Hungarian Grand Prix, which compromised safety,” Renault said.
“The team therefore accepts the decision of the FIA to issue a reprimand and a $50,000 fine is fair and balanced.” Yahoo! Eurosport
Renault’s lawyer Ali Malek told the four appeal judges at the hearing in Paris that the punishment handed down by the FIA, was unnecessarily harsh. “This case does not deserve more than a reprimand,” he said, arguing that suspension from races should only be used where rules had deliberately been broken.
“Was there a conscious wrongdoing from Renault? There was none whatsoever. The only persons who knew were the two mechanics. Nobody on the pit wall knew there was a problem and the driver did not know either. There was a series of unfortunate events but no conscious wrongdoing.” Independent
The team welcomed the Court’s decision and described the revised penalty as “fair and balanced”, adding that they “now look forward to concentrating on preparations for racing this weekend in Valencia”.
The International Court of Appeal’s decision in full:
Renault admitted to the Court that it breached the Sporting Regulations, in that it failed to ensure that car no. 7 complied with the conditions for safety throughout practice and the race, and that it released the car after a pit stop when it was unsafe to do so. However, it requested the Court to reconsider the severity of the sanction imposed by the Stewards.
Having heard the arguments of the parties, the Court has decided as follows:
1. to allow the appeal and overturn the sanction imposed by the Stewards in the Contested Decision;
2. to issue a reprimand and impose a fine of $50,000 upon Renault.
The reasons for this decision will be published in a full judgment in the coming days. Formula 1
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