Sainz maintains penalty was “disproportionate” and deserved reviewing · RaceFans

Ferrari has accepted the stewards’ decision not to review Carlos Sainz Jnr’s penalty for causing a collision during the Australian Grand Prix.

However the team says it wants to widen talks between the FIA, Formula 1 and its rivals over the standards of policing in the championship. And Sainz made his dissatisfaction with the decision clear, saying it “should have been reviewed” and calling his penalty “disproportionate”.

Sainz was given a five-second time penalty for causing a collision with Fernando Alonso after the final standing restart at the last round in Melbourne. The team and driver were unhappy the stewards ruled on the incident without first hearing from Sainz.

Two other incidents happened around the same time. One, which led to Logan Sargeant and Nyck de Vries’ retirements from the race, was not investigated by the stewards.

Another, which involved the Alpine drivers, was investigated. On that occasion the stewards chose to speak to the drivers first before deciding to take no action.

Ferrari submitted views from Sainz and other drivers as part of its bid to force a review of the stewards’ decision. However their request was turned down as the stewards ruled this and other evidence submitted by Ferrari was not new, significant and relevant.

The team accepted the verdict. “We acknowledge the FIA decision not to grant us a right of review in relation to the penalty imposed on Carlos Sainz at the 2023 Australian Grand Prix,” it said in a statement. “We are naturally disappointed, and felt that we had provided sufficient significant new elements for the FIA to re-examine the decision especially in the context of the particular conditions and multiple incidents that occurred during the final restart.

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“We are however respectful of the process and of the FIA decision.”

However the team believes there is scope for further improvement in decision-making in F1. “We are now looking forward to entering broader discussions with the FIA, F1, and all the teams, with the aim of further improving the policing of our sport, in order to ensure the highest level of fairness and consistency that our sport deserves,” it added.

Sainz said he was “very disappointed that the FIA did not grant us a right to review” the penalty and said his opinion of it had not changed.

“Two weeks later, I still think the penalty is too disproportionate and I believe it should have at least been reviewed on…