Four rival teams helped Renault avoid Formula One ban, FIA confirm
Four rival Formula One teams helped Renault overturn a one-race ban that would have forced Fernando Alonso to miss this weekend's European grand prix, the sport's governing body has revealed.
The International Automobile Federation (FIA), publishing the reasoning behind Monday's appeal court verdict, said Red Bull, McLaren, Ferrari and Toyota had all written in support of Renault.
It said the court took the letters into account, noting that two teams said they had changed pitstop procedures after the incident at the Hungarian grand prix that resulted in the penalty.
The court, which changed the suspension into a reprimand and a $50,000 (£34,000) fine, said it would "be wrong in the circumstances of this case to ignore the other teams' views".
Stewards had punished Renault at last month's Hungarian grand prix for allowing Alonso, the double world champion, to rejoin the race after a pitstop despite allegedly knowing that the Spaniard's right front wheel was not properly attached. The wheel came off shortly afterwards.
The incident came a day after Ferrari's Felipe Massa had been seriously injured by bouncing debris in qualifying for the race in Budapest.
It also followed the death of Henry Surtees in a Formula Two race at Brands Hatch after the 18-year-old Briton, son of the 1964 world champion John, was hit on the head by a loose wheel bouncing across the track. The FIA said the ban was overturned because there was no proof that Renault had acted deliberately.
"The court endorses the FIA's view that it is always necessary to have regard to the potential dangers which arise from a situation, as recent tragic incidents have proved," the governing body added. "However, in assessing the penalty which is appropriate in an individual case, great care must be taken not to equate potential danger with conscious wrongdoing."