Ferrari launches bid to overturn Sainz’s penalty for Alonso collision · RaceFans

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…