The FIA has announced the date for the appeal against Renault's proposed suspension from the European Grand Prix. The French team will go in front of the FIA's International Court of Appeal in Paris on August 17th.
The hearing has been scheduled after the Renault team decided to protest the penalty handed out to them by the race stewards in Hungary last weekend. They were suspended from the next grand prix after being found culpable of breaching safety rules when Fernando Alonso's right front wheel fell off the car following a botched pit stop.
The claims revolved around Renault releasing the car without the wheelnut being securely sourced onto the wheel, and then failing to prevent Alonso from leaving the pitlane with the problem.
The Spaniard completed a whole lap of the race with the problem, firstly shedding his 'hubcap' aero device, and then the wheel itself, though the tyre bounced safely into a crash barrier at turn nine of the Hungaroring track.
The stewards based their penalty on the fact that Renault had violated the exciting Article 3.2 of F1's Sporting Regulations, which states that: "competitors must ensure that their cars comply with the conditions of eligibility and safety throughout practice and the race."
It also found that the team were in violation of the even more interesting Article 23.1, which states that cars should only be released from a pit stop "when it is safe".
Many have seen the ban as an overly-harsh and rather knee-jerk reaction to the incident, brought on by the recent accidents involving Henry Surtees and Felipe Massa, who were both struck on the head by pieces shed from other cars. Surtees was killed when he was struck by a tyre from another car at a Formula 2 race at Brands Hatch.
The hearing will begin at 10am on Monday 17th August, and a verdict is expected the following day.
The race organisers of the Valencia race, which Renault would miss should the suspension be upheld, have already called for the FIA to drop the penalty, citing the loss of Alonso from his home race as being disastrous for a race where the current predicted crowd could probably fit fairly comfortably onto a standard two-seater sofa.
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