Ferrari challenges Carlos Sainz's Australian GP penalty using right to review

Carlos Sainz

Ferrari challenges Carlos Sainz's Australian GP penalty

Sainz was hit with a five-second penalty after causing a collision with Fernando Alonso's Aston Martin

Dan Davis

Friday 7 April 2023 12:50 Updated: 12:58

Ferrari has requested a right of review after Carlos Sainz was hit with a penalty during the dramatic final stages of the Australian Grand Prix.

Sainz was given a five-second penalty for causing a collision with Fernando Alonso's Aston Martin, the two drivers having made contact at the incident-filled standing restart after the race's second red flag.

The punishment had been awarded ahead of the resumption of the final lap behind the safety car, leading Sainz to vent his frustration with the decision over team radio and call for the opportunity to explain the incident to the stewards.

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The cars were placed back in the previous grid order for the final restart and with Sainz in fourth, although he dropped to 12th in the final standings after the penalty came into effect.

Shortly after Sainz's collision, Alpine team-mate Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon struck each other and Williams' Logan Sergeant rear-ended Nyck de Vries.

Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz on track at the Australian Grand Prix

"As we are discussing with the FIA, and we sent the report to the FIA, I don't want to disclose any details of this discussion," Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur said.

"The only thing is that about Gasly [and] Ocon, and for sure we had Sargeant [and] De Vries at Turn 1, and the reaction of the stewards was not the same. But I want to avoid making any comment."

The stewards will first have to decide whether they will answer Ferrari's case in light of a "significant and relevant new element" and then make a decision based on the new evidence in the event they opted to proceed.

Vasseur: 'The case was very special'

"The process is that first they will have a look on our petition to see if they can re-open the case," Vasseur added. "Then we'll have a second hearing a bit later, with the same stewards or the stewards of the next meeting, about the decision itself.

"What we can expect is at least to have an open discussion with them, and also for the good of the sport to avoid this kind of decision when you have three cases on the same corner, and not the same decision.

"The biggest frustration was from Carlos, and you heard it on the radio, to not have a hearing.

"Because the case was very special, and in this case, I think it would have made sense considering that it was the race was over, it was not affecting the podium, to have a hearing, as Gasly and Ocon had."