FIA Unaccepted Ferrari Appeal Against Sainz Penalty at Australian GP
- AP Photo/Frank Augstein
VIVA – The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) has an unaccepted appeal against the penalty given to Carlos Sainz at the Australian Grand Prix on late April 2.
"There are no significant and relevant new elements that were unavailable to the parties seeking the review at the time of the decision concerned. The Petition is therefore dismissed." said the FIA, quoted from the official F1 website, on Wednesday.
Sainz was hit with a five-second time penalty for clashing with Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) during the last restart of the race, dropping Sainz from fourth to 12th and out of the points.
Having already expressed his anger over the radio, Sainz cut a frustrated figure when he spoke to the media post-race, saying he was “too angry to talk” after receiving “the most unfair penalty I’ve seen in my life”.
Pembalap Ferrari, Carlos Sainz
- Twitter/@Carlossainz55
In the week after the race, Ferrari team boss Frederic Vasseur confirmed that the Italian outfit had petitioned for a right of review, with the hope of getting the penalty overturned.
The FIA reasoned: "We considered the fact that this collision took place at the first corner on the first lap of the restart, when, by convention, the Stewards would typically take a more lenient view of the incident,"
"However, we decided that notwithstanding that it was the equivalent of a first lap incident, we considered that there was a sufficient gap for SAI to take steps to avoid the collision and failed to do so. We, therefore, imposed a 5-second time penalty." FIA added.
Ferrari had asked the stewards to reconsider their verdict by taking into account telemetry data from Sainz's car, plus witness statements given by Sainz and Alonso.
Furthermore, the FIA was asked to reconsider on the basis that, in another case, former team Force India previously used a driver's witness testimony to "put a different light on the facts that had been put to the Stewards".
The FIA, however, said that they did not reconsider the Scuderia's appeal on this basis as their decision was made during the race. They added that it was "unnecessary for us to hear from SAI or hear from any other driver to decide that he was wholly to blame for the collision."
Moreover, the FIA decided that the supplied telemetry "corroborated" their decision; Sainz's written witness statement was "not a new element"; and other drivers' statements about the lack of grip and cold tires were also deemed "not new significant, and relevant elements to decide about the incident".
Ferrari, therefore, remains fourth in the constructors' championship standings with 26 points, behind third-placed Mercedes with 56 points. Shortly after the verdict was released, they responded with a statement on social media.
"We are however respectful of the process and the FIA decision. We are now looking forward to entering broader discussions with the FIA, F1, and all the Teams, to further improve the policing of our sport, to ensure the highest level of fairness and consistency that our sport deserves." Ferrari stated.
