Ferrari does not want to leave any stone unturned in the defense of Carlos Sainz. The five-second penalty imposed on the Spaniard after the contact in turn 1 at the second restart in the Australian Grand Prix is considered too harsh, given that the Spaniard slipped from fourth place on the track to twelfth, outside the points zone.
The Scuderia ended the race at the Albert Park circuit with a disappointing total of zero points, as Charles Leclerc’s Australian Grand Prix ended after just three corners due to a collision with the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll. The Monegasque driver spun and got stuck in the gravel, where he had to stop his SF-23 car.
Ferrari have called on the FIA to review their decision to penalise Carlos Sainz by using article 14.1.1. of the International Sporting Code, despite the fact that a five-second penalty during the race would be unappealable for the sporting regulations of Formula 1.
Ferrari must bring a new element that is significant and relevant to hope to change the opinion of the Australian Grand Prix race stewards, who will meet specifically to evaluate the evidence that will have to be introduced and explained by the Maranello team.
The images of the contact, seen and reviewed from all angles, had led the stewards to attribute the responsibility to Carlos Sainz: as a result of the crash, Fernando Alonso spun and returned to the track outside the top ten when another red flag was waved from the race direction which, in fact, canceled the action of the Spanish driver, but not the penalty that was inflicted while the single-seaters were stationary in the pit lane.
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The analysis of the telemetry and GPS positions, however, would have shown an interesting fact: Fernando with the Aston Martin AMR23 would have braked early, in order not to crash into the Mercedes FW14 of Lewis Hamilton who was in front, so much so that Pierre Gasly with the Alpine A523 was forced to stall with locked wheels to avoid hitting the green car and chose to go to the escape route also pulling Sergio Perez in the second Red Bull RB19.
If there are doubts that the Frenchman could have turned without widening his trajectory in the escape route, the telemetry data shows that Carlos Sainz had not approached turn 1 with enough speed to prevent him from taking the corner, but rather had braked earlier, but found himself behind a rather slow Aston Martin car.
Below is the telemetric data that was compiled by F1 analyst Giunluca D’Alessandro for Motorsport Italy: in the first graph we observe the evident lower speed of Fernando Alonso compared to a previous lap, while in the second graph we observe how Carlos (red line) brakes before Fernando Alonso (green line) and had no intention of hitting the Aston Martin which ended up in a spin due to the impact of Carlos Sainz’s SF-23 car.
If the review is accepted, then the Scuderia could try to demonstrate that Carlos hadn’t exaggerated in braking so there was no intention to harm his compatriot. Fernando Alonso himself, in his post-race statements, had admitted that the effect of Carlos Sainz’s penalty was exaggerated compared to his fault.
Will the Maranello team be able to get through their defense? Ferrari tries again after the episode following the 2019 Canadian Grand Prix when it ended in a really bad way: Sebastian Vettel had returned to the track in front of Lewis Hamilton after cutting a chicane and saw himself deprived of the victory in Montreal, being relegated to second place due to five-seconds penalty. The new evidence introduced at that time by the Italian side was considered irrelevant and the review rejected.
Now the Maranello team is trying again: with more hope?
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