Ferrari’s request to review Carlos Sainz penalty dismissed by FIA stewards

The Australian Grand Prix’s stewards have rejected Ferrari’s attempt to reopen the investigation into Carlos Sainz’s in-race penalty.

Sainz dropped from fourth place to last in the final results of the race due to a five-second penalty for making contact with Fernando Alonso at a late red-flag restart.

The stewards issued the penalty during the third and final red flag before a safety car finish and found the Ferrari driver wholly to blame for the collision.

Sainz was livid with the decision over team radio, saying it was the “most unfair penalty I’ve seen in my life”.

He also said the stewards should have waited to hear from him before making a decision — something the stewards do not have to do if they issue an in-race penalty.

After the race, Ferrari lodged a petition to review the stewards’ decision, which, if successful, would have seen the stewards reconsider their decision and potentially alter the result of the race.

However, in order to reopen the case Ferrari was required to provide new and relevant information that had not been available to the stewards at the time of the decision.

Ferrari presented the following three elements:

a) the telemetry data of Sainz’s car after the second restart.
b) Sainz’s witness statement; and
c) other driver’s witness statements, which amount to records of post-race interviews given by Alonso as well as other drivers.

All three were rejected.

Ferrari also believed there was a precedent for reopening the case based on an accident between Sergio Perez and Felipe Massa at the 2014 Canadian Grand Prix.

The investigation into that incident was reopened as Perez, who was driving for Force India at the time, had been hospitalised after the crash and was unable to attend the post-race hearing into the accident.

Despite reopening the case, Perez’s penalty, which was a grid drop at the next race, was upheld.

However, the Australian Grand Prix stewards said the two incidents were not comparable.

“The distinguishing feature here is that our decision [regarding Sainz in Australia] was made in-race,” a statement said. “We deemed it unnecessary for us to hear from SAI or hear from any other driver to decide that he was wholly to blame for the collision.

“A decision that we, and other Stewards panels, routinely take and are encouraged to take, when the cause of the collision is clear and there is a need for time penalties to be issued as quickly as possible.”