The Alpine Formula One team said on Monday they were protesting a post-race penalty against their driver Fernando Alonso at the United States Grand Prix which saw him drop outside the points from an original seventh-place finish. Alonso was handed a 30-second penalty by race stewards for driving an unsafe car because his right-hand mirror was first damaged in a collision with Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin and then fell off when he attempted to pass Haas driver Kevin Magnussen, and the team failed to address the matter during a pit stop. Stwards had acted upon a protest from the Haas team. As a r…