Ferrari has formally requested that the FIA reviews its decision to penalise Carlos Sainz Jnr in the Australian Grand Prix.
Team principal Frederic Vasseur told media including RaceFans the team began the process on Thursday. An FIA spokesperson confirmed it has received Ferrari’s request.
Sainz was given a five-second time penalty for colliding with Fernando Alonso during the final standing restart on the penultimate lap of the race. He went on to finish in fourth place, but his penalty relegated him to 12th, outside of the points.
After learning of his penalty during the red flag period before the race’s final lap, Sainz urged his team to request a hearing with the stewards. Vasseur said the stewards’ decision to issue Sainz’s penalty immediately without speaking to the driver was not consistent with their handling of another incident involving Alpine team mates Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon.
“It’s where the frustration came from because we had the feeling that the Ocon-Gasly situation was treated a bit differently,” said Vasseur in response to a question from RaceFans.
After race Sainz he had been given “the most unfair penalty I’ve ever seen”. Vasseur said his driver was “devastated” by the decision. “With Carlos for sure the morale as you can imagine was completely down and I had to help him a little bit on Sunday evening. You heard on the radio that he was completely devastated with the situation.”
The collision between Sainz and Alonso was one of three incidents which occured after the race restarted on lap 57, but the only one which resulted in a penalty being issued. Sainz made contact with Alonso at the exit of turn one, knocking the Aston Martin driver into a spin. Alonso was able to recover and went on to finish third.
The stewards ruled Sainz was “wholly responsible” for the collision. They acknowledged the contact took place on the first lap following a standing start “when, by convention, the stewards would typically take a more lenient view of incidents” but felt “there was sufficient gap for car 55 [Sainz] to take steps to avoid the collision and failed to do so.”
However the steward saw the collision between Gasly and Ocon differently, calling it “a first lap racing incident.” Gasly ran wide at the same corner as Sainz, after approaching it side-by-side with the Ferrari driver, then went off the track. After Gasly rejoined at turn two he tangled with Ocon, which put both Alpine drivers out of the race. The stewards spoke to the pair afterwards and declined to penalise either of them.
A third incident at the restart was not investigated by the stewards. Logan Sargeant ran into the back of Nyck de Vries as they braked for turn one, ending the race for both drivers.
Vasseur said his team had taken note of both other incidents. “About Gasly-Ocon, for sure we had also Sargeant-De Vries at turn one and the reaction of the stewards was not the same. But I prefer to avoid to make them come into it.”
Aston Martin successfully used the right of review to overturn a five-second time penalty Alonso received during the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix last month. It is a two-stage process. First the team must convince the stewards they have new information which should be reconsidered. If the stewards agree to that, the incident is then reviewed a decision taken whether to change the original verdict.
“What we expect is at least to have an open discussion with them and also for the good of the sport, to avoid to have this kind of decision when you have three cases on the same corner and not the same decision,” said Vasseur.
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“The biggest frustration was – and you heard it on the radio – to not have hearings. Because the case was very special. And in this case, I think it would have made sense considering that the race was over, it was not affecting the podium, to have the hearing as Gasly and Ocon had.”
Vasseur is hopeful the team will be able to overturn Sainz’s penalty and restore him to fourth place in the race.
“It is up to the stewards to decide what is the right penalty. But for me at least for Carlos, for the team, to reopen the discussion, it’s a first step. Now the outcome of this will be up to the FIA, that we have no argumentation.
“For sure we are expecting the review of the decision because it’s a petition for review that we are not going there to get the same result.”
Sainz’s radio messages after his penalty
| Lap: 57/58 | |
| Lap: 58/58 |
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