The FIA has confirmed it will hold a hearing in response to Ferrari’s request to review Carlos Sainz Jnr’s Australian Grand Prix penalty on Tuesday.
Sainz was relegated from fourth place to 12th in the final classification when he was given a post-race time penalty for causing a collision with Fernando Alonso.The FIA confirmed Ferrari has brought a petition under article 14 of the International Sporting Code requesting a review of the Australian Grand Prix stewards’ decision in document 46. A virtual hearing will be held to determine whether Ferrari has identified “a significant and relevant new element” which merits a reconsideration of Sainz’s penalty.
If Ferrari fails to meet that standard, Sainz’s penalty will not be reviewed. Otherwise, the team will have a chance to regain their lost points. The hearing will begin at 8am CET on April 18th.
Sainz labelled the stewards’ decision “the most unfair penalty I’ve seen in my life” after the race. His rival agreed: Alonso said the penalty was “too harsh”.
A five-second penalty is among the most lenient sanctions the stewards can hand down but its effect was amplified by the fact the race finished behind the Safety Car. The drivers who finished behind Sainz ensured they stayed as close to him as possible in order to benefit from his penalty.
Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur revealed the team’s plan to overturn the penalty last week. He and Sainz complained the team were not given the opportunity to discuss the incident with the stewards, unlike the Alpine drivers who crashed around the same time.
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Esploratore (@esploratore1)
16th April 2023, 3:11
In the end of the day, he didn’t even lose a podium, just a points-finish, imo what ferrari should do is try to make them change the rules so that the next time something like this happens, the one in sainz’s position gets a penalty that is actually minor for the situation or none at all, given alonso got back his 3rd place, cause like the article says the penalty is lenient, it’s the situation that exacerbates it.
drmouse (@drmouse)
16th April 2023, 7:02
To be fair, though, the same could be said for many things when they occur immediately after a safety car or red flag. If you make a minor mistake at one corner at such a time, you lose a lot more positions than you would have done without. If you’re on the wrong tyres, have car damage, need to save fuel… Everything is amplified.
So, maybe the problem isn’t the penalty but the way such stoppages are handled.
Todfod (@todfod)
18th April 2023, 6:46
I can’t believe this nonsense is still going on. Maybe Ferrari should pick their battles with the FIA and actually launch an appeal when they have received a penalty that wasn’t deserving, or fighting for a decision that would affect their championship outcomes. Fighting for a p4 result for their #2 driver is just daft.