Extensive online abuse and harassment has been directed towards FIA’s lone F1 woman steward, Silvia Bellot, after the U.S. Grand Prix penalty debacle.
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Fernando Alonso and Alpine both released statements on Friday condemning the online abuse being directed towards Silvia Bellot, the lone woman FIA steward in Formula One, in wake of the penalty reversal.
On Thursday, the FIA stewards decided to hand Alonso back his seventh-place finish at the United States Grand Prix as well as his points. His right-wing mirror flew off of his car several laps after a high-speed collision with Lance Stroll; however, he was not shown a black and orange flag signifying that he’d need to pit for repairs.
Haas filed a protest following the U.S. Grand Prix regarding the Spaniard’s car, and the stewards ruled Sunday evening that it was driven in an unsafe condition. He was dealt a 30-second post-race penalty, dropping him to P15. Alpine, in turn, filed a protest of its own, pointing out that Haas filed the protest past the deadline.
The team said in a Twitter thread, “The FIA has the right to black and orange flag a car during the race if they consider it unsafe and, on this occasion, they assessed the car and decided not to action the flag. Moreover, after the race, the FIA technical delegate considered the car legal.”
Come Thursday ahead of the Mexico City Grand Prix weekend, the stewards deemed Alpine’s protest was not admissible. Alpine proceeded to request a right of review, citing new evidence. According to The Race, the team’s sporting director Alan Permane argued “the word ‘impossible’ sets a very ‘high bar’—the Oxford Dictionary defines it as being something that cannot happen or be achieved and that in this case, there was nothing preventing Haas from lodging the protest within the 30-minute deadline,” with a handwritten note. Haas’s Peter Crolla said the team would have taken that route had they “not been told by the FIA official in race control that it had an hour” to file the initial protest.
A hearing held later determined Haas could have submitted a handwritten protest prior to the 30-minute deadline, and considering that the requirement set by the regulations could have been met, the penalty decision “is rendered null and void.”
Similar to most of this season, race control faced criticism, particularly about the decision to penalize Alonso. Bellot, who is also the Formula Two and Formula Three race director, was among the four stewards who made the decision about the initial penalty, and as online abuse directed towards her continued to rise, both Alpine and Alonso spoke out.
“We are disappointed to learn of the unacceptable harassment aimed at FIA Race Steward, Silvia Bellot,” Alpine tweeted. “There is no room for any form of harassment or abuse in our sport and we condemn this behaviour.”
Alonso posted on his Instagram story: “I strongly condemn the recent online abuse which has been directed at FIA Race Steward Silvia Bellot. This type of hateful behaviour is unacceptably in sport and society. It is particularly deplorable that these comments are aimed at one of our sport’s volunteers and officials.
“I will continue to support the FIA and F1 in their efforts to drive out such harm and harassment and I call on others to do the same.”
This comes a few months after F1 condemned the fan harassment and abuse that occurred at the Austrian Grand Prix, Lando Norris opening up about death threats and online abuse he’s received and Max Verstappen as well as AlphaTauri condemned the abuse directed towards Red Bull principal strategy engineer Hannah Schmitz after the Dutch Grand Prix.