McLaren have failed in their effort to have Oscar Piastri restored to third place on the grid for the Austrian Grand Prix.
The team protested the results of qualifying after their driver’s fastest lap time in qualifying was deleted for a track limits infringement at turn six.
However the stewards ruled McLaren’s protest was inadmissible and did not reconsider whether Piastri’s time should have been allowed. He will therefore start the race from seventh on the grid.
At a hearing attended by team principal Andrea Stella and team manager Randeep Singh, the stewards noted three errors in McLaren’s appeal: It did not specify which regulation was the focus of their protest, it did not specify whom was being protested and it was addressed to the clerk of the course instead of the chairperson of the stewards.
The stewards also noted that McLaren attempted to protest a decision of the stewards but stated: “a decision of the stewards is not open to protest.”
After qualifying the driver was surprised to learn he had lost his lap time. He said it was an “embarrassing” decision as the operators of the Red Bull Ring made several changes to the track this year to prevent drivers being able to gain an advantage by exceeding the track limits.
Piastri was not the only driver who lost a lap time due to a track limits infringement during the session. Charles Leclerc, Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda also lost times.
The last team to protest the result of a qualifying session this year was Aston Martin at the Chinese Grand Prix. They claimed Carlos Sainz Jnr should not have been allowed to continue in the session after coming to a stop and causing the session to be red-flagged, but their protest was also rejected.
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2024 Austrian Grand Prix
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