The FIA Court of Appeals met today to discuss the Renault ban that was put in place after a tire came off the car of Fernando Alonso during the Hungarian Grand Prix. The team’s defense was that there was no conscious wrong doing when Fernando left his pit box on his first stop. The highlight was well shown during the US coverage in which there appeared to be a problem on the right front wheel lock that later seen the tire come off the car and go into a grassy field along the race way. The team was banned from competition at Valencia without any warning given to the teams that if parts came off the car, they would be penalized so harshly. So justice has been done and the Spanish fans will be allowed to see Fernando this weekend and also new comer Romain Grosjean.
As myself and Mike discussed on the show, this penalty was completely not warranted for the situation. It is amazing how quickly the FIA changed the interpretation of the ruling soon after Felipe Massa was hit by a fall away spring during practice a day previous. The true question is whether or not we should be surprised. After the beginning of the year when the diffuser rule was left to such wide interpretation and the problems that followed in the weeks after, should we really be surprised that the FIA would instantly change the ruling or interpretation of such? Unless you have been living under a rock the last 5 years then the answer is simply no. No we should not be surprised that the greedy powers that be in F1 would twist the ruling a few hours after an event. It shows the continuous lack of control the FIA and FOM have over the series and highlights the many problems that are present in this current FIA administration. I am happy justice was served and look forward to watching Fernando do what he does every weekend and bring that pig of a car home in a respectable finishing position. Renault have been hit with a $50,000 fine for the incident.
