How Fernando Alonso’s mirror in 2022 adds even more controversy to 2024 Qatar GP

The FIA race director took over five laps and eight minutes in the Qatar GP race to deploy a Safety Car for the rear-view mirror of Alexander Albon lying in the middle of the track.

There is a very clear precedent with Fernando Alonso, which again highlights the lack of consistency with the FIA acting directly from race control as well as the stewards when it comes to applying penalties.

How history repeated itself at the Qatar Grand Prix

In the F1 2022 season, during the US Grand Prix in Austin, Alonso had an accident with Lance Stroll on lap 22 when the Canadian driver changed his racing line just as the Spaniard was overtaking him on the straight.

However, Alonso was able to continue on track with damage to his car and finished the race in P7.

After his epic comeback, the Haas team lodged a protest 24 minutes outside the time allowed by the FIA asking for Alonso’s disqualification from the race for driving an unsafe car.

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The Spaniard lost his rear-view mirror on lap 49, 27 laps after sustaining damage, when overtaking Kevin Magnussen as the DRS and slipstream effect finally detached the mirror from his car after many laps flapping up and down.

Albon also lost his rear-view mirror while trying to overtake, in this case, Yuki Tsunoda in Qatar on lap 29.

However, the Williams driver had no damage to his car as Alonso did in that race and his mirror came off without warning.

Haas’ protest was upheld and Alpine – Alonso’s team back in 2022 – and Haas showed their evidence to defend their different positions on the matter.

After several hours of deliberation, the FIA imposed a stop-and-go penalty on Alonso after the race, which translates to a 30-second time penalty, relegating Alonso from P7 to P15 for deeming his car unsafe despite the stewards never showing him the black flag with an orange disc and passing the post-race technical scrutineering.

It is worth mentioning that Alonso eventually regained P7 with a counter protest to the FIA hours later. But this was just because Haas’ initial protest was presented outside the time stipulated by the federation, not related to the safety of the car.

Jo Bauer, the FIA’s current technical delegate as well as for that race in Austin in 2022, stated the following during the initial hearing: “Mr Bauer submitted that a flapping mirror was dangerous and it could come loose and hit another driver causing injury. Therefore this was unsafe.”

“Mr Bauer further stated that a car needs to have two mirrors and that in his opinion, which the Stewards accept as expert opinion, the car was unsafe to be driven with a mirror missing”.

Nikolas Tombazis, current FIA Single-Seater Director, also “agreed that the car was not safe in that condition.”

And the stewards for that race relied on article 3.2 of F1 Sporting Regulations to determine that Alonso’s Alpine was unsafe to drive: “Competitors must ensure that their cars comply with the conditions of eligibility and safety throughout each free practice session, qualifying session, sprint shootout, sprint session and the race.”

This creates a big contradiction with what happened during the Qatar GP.

Albon’s car, like Alonso’s, did not receive the black flag with an orange disc and was allowed to continue on track as an “unsafe car” according to this precedent with which the current FIA technical delegate was very clear.

Going even further, Rui Marques, the FIA’s new race director, allowed a dangerous part for the physical integrity of the drivers, as Bauer pointed out in the hearing of the US Grand Prix 2022, to stay on track for more than five laps – two of them without any danger signs – and furthermore allowed an unsafe car without a rear-view mirror to stay on track for almost half of the race.

Finally deploying the Safety Car on lap 35, after causing punctures for both Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton due to debris on track caused by Valtteri Bottas running over Albon’s rear-view mirror, race control finally decided to act eight minutes after the mirror fell into the tarmac of the Losail circuit.

The Qatar race and this precedent set with Alonso is yet another example of the FIA’s inconsistency in applying penalties and also the lack of enforcement and accountability during the live management of the races.

If the governing body’s motto is “safety first”, then they should be the first not to put drivers at risk on the track.

I don’t really like to use this extreme and sad example, but it is the best way to understand how important it is to be effective when being in complete control of the race course and make use of the tools that are available to avoid big consequences that happened in the past.

Before Jules Bianchi’s accident during the 2014 Japanese GP, double yellow flags were only shown when there was a crane working off track and in very tricky conditions for the drivers due to rain.

Bianchi either did not see the flags or did not slow down sufficiently before losing control of his car. And only after the fatal accident of the Marussia driver, race control deployed the Safety Car.

Something that, for example, cost Lando Norris in Qatar a very severe penalty for effectively not complying with safety regulations as he did not slow down under the yellow flags.

But again, if there was a danger on track, as the precedent of Alonso in 2022 dictates that a rear-view mirror is, the FIA should have deployed the Safety Car immediately to remove that part from the track from the very first moment.

In Qatar, we luckily didn’t have to experience such a fatal misfortune as Bianchi’s, just two punctures and a rear-view mirror that disintegrated instead of flying off and hitting a driver’s car or helmet.

But race control has acted too late again.

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