Ferrari appealed Carlos Sainz’s penalty which left him with points in Australia

Ferrari has appealed the penalty imposed by the FIA ​​on Carlos Sainz at the last Australian GP. The Spaniard was furious and frustrated at the fact that he was punished after being touched Fernando Alonso, who made said decision before the pilot went to the commissioners to explain what happened.

Carlos Sainz’s sanction was very controversial. In the same final stop, with three laps to go, many more drivers had problems with too cold tires. due to how slow the ‘Safety Car’ was on its way to the grid. That is, it was the FIA’s procedure itself that caused many pilots to suffer in the beginning.

At that moment it was seen Gasly went straight into the first corner and took to the track in a dangerous manner, closing his teammate Ocon into the wall for not looking in the mirrors and causing the last red flag. That action was dangerous, but the FIA ​​decided not to intervene. He also did not punish Sargeantthat was ahead of the rear of a vehicle when it over-braked.

however, Carlos Sainz was penalized, as indicated by the FIA ​​in the official document, because they considered that he had more space to avoid the impact. Striking not only for what was explained, but also for the haste that was done to punish him. They didn’t want to wait for the pilot’s explanationswhile two weeks ago, in Jeddah, it took 30 laps to announce the penalty for Alonso which was later lifted.

After the race, in Australia, Vasseur made his disagreement clear. “It’s a shame. Considering it had no impact on the podium, at least the stewards could have listened to Carlos and looked at the data. I think it’s a shame. Last week we changed the regulations when twice in 10 minutes in the pit. stop for Alonso. The same could happen today, at least to talk “he commented on Sunday.

This time, in a conversation with the international press, the head of the Italian team assured that the team has filed an appeal and now the ‘ball’ is in the court of the FIA, because they must consider whether there is a new relevant evidence. to return to study the case.

“First, they will look at our petition to see if the case can be reopened. And shortly we will have a second hearing, with the same commissioners or the delegates of the next meeting, on the decision itself.”he commented.

“What we can hope for is to at least have an open discussion with them, and also for the good of the sport, to avoid those kinds of decisions when there are three incidents in the same corner with different decisions. It is up to the administrators what the right sanction is, but for me, even for Carlos and for the rest of the team, reopening the discussion is a first step. The outcome of this will depend on the FIA. We have our argument and I will keep it before the FIA,” he added in this regard.

Carlos Sainz received a 5 second penalty, a minimal penalty in any other context, but in this one it had disproportionate consequences. Carlos’ touch had no effect on the result of the car he was handling, Alonso, as the red flag was immediately shown for the Gasly incident and Alonso’s appointment continued in the same place as before, third position. Also, since the race ended after the ‘Safety Car’, those 5 seconds cost him a lot. With the compact group, this dropped him from 4th place to 12th position, running out of points after a good race.

When will the hearing take place?

Now, Ferrari is waiting for an answer. “It’s up to them to decide when they want to do it. It can be in Baku, or it can be earlier. Of course we prefer to do it earlier and focus on other things,” Vasseur said.

“They have to do it in a short time and it is true that this time we have four weeks left between the two races (the last one in Australia and the next one in Baku), so there is a little flexibility. . With Kimi Raikkonen , two years ago at Alfa Romeo, the hearings took place in the next race”, he concluded on this matter.