“Please do something.” – In a team radio message, Carlos Sainz was literally desperate after the third red flag displayed during the Australian F1 Grand Prix in Melbourne. The Ferrari driver was in fact punished with a five-second penalty for having sent Fernando Alonso into a spin in Turn-1 on the third and final standing start. A penalty which, combined with the fact that the Australian Grand Prix ended behind the Safety Car which returned to the pits simply to spoil the photo of the finishing order, ousted the former McLaren from the points with Ferrari which therefore left the Austin Park circuit without scoring any points after by Charles Leclerc’s race ended on the first lap, despite a decent potential shown by the SF-23 especially in the race.
Carlos Sainz at the end of the Australian Grand Prix, in front of the to Sky Sport F1 microphones preferred not to get too excited, however, not hiding that he felt robbed of a position definitely in the top-5 earned on the track with a remarkable comeback after the first red flag had put more that the uphill race of the Ferrari driver who had stopped in the pits in what seemed like a simple Safety Car then only later transformed into a suspension of the Grand Prix.
The Spaniard did not digest the fact that the penalty came without the race stewards giving him a hearing before deciding. And it is precisely on this aspect that Ferrari has focused its appeal, together with the different way of evaluating incidents used against Carlos Sainz compared to other drivers – Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon and Logan Sargenat – who made mistakes without, however, being penalized .
Fred Vasseur’s words
“Carlos was devastated on Sunday and I can understand that. We have applied to the FIA to reopen the case – Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur said in a press conference, confirming the fact that the Scuderia from Maranello has decided to take advantage of the 14-day time limit to appeal against the 5-second penalty imposed on Carlos Sainz – first of all they will review our request and consider whether to reopen the case. Hopefully we can get a meeting with the Stewards to talk about the decision they have made in Australia. We expect at least to be able to discuss it with them and, for the good of the sport, that situations like these will never happen again in the future, i.e. identical episodes in the first corner, but different treatment. The frustration for Carlos was not having a hearing, which was granted instead to Gasly and Ocon, also given that the race was now over and he was off the podium”.
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“The first hearing will be to decide to reopen the case. Eventually they will decide when it will be the second one, which could be in Baku or maybe even earlier. For me, for Carlos and for the team, at least reopening the discussion would be a first step. We obviously expect the decision to be reviewed, we are not appealing it to remain the same,” concluded Fred Vasseur.
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