Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel time penalty review “on standby” – report. Laurent Mekies has intricate knowledge of how the governing body’s review process works.

Scuderia Ferrari’s stewards review of the Canada Grand Prix time penalty is “on standby” and could take some more time, according to the Italian media. That is the news from Daniele Sparisci, the correspondent for Italy’s Corriere della Sera newspaper.

We reported earlier that the stewards at Paul Ricard were expected to make a decision about the review of Sebastian Vettel’s controversial Montreal time penalty by Thursday. But Sparisci informs that “neither the OK to take it forwards nor a rejection by the FIA has come. At Maranello, they hope the matter will be dealt with as soon as possible. But perhaps it will take some more time because it is a delicate matter and all the elements must be weighed.” – he explained.

The Italian journalist also claims that Scuderia Ferrari has prepared a package of videos and telemetry to show that Sebastian Vettel did not deliberately cause Lewis Hamilton to take evasive action. Sparisci thinks the Maranello team’s sporting director Laurent Mekies, who until 2017 worked for the FIA, has intricate knowledge of how the governing body’s review process works.

“Also clear is that Mercedes is also ready to provide its reasons for defending Hamilton’s victory,” he added – “herefore, a video conference to link the Paul Ricard and Montreal stewards may not suffice. “This time, a meeting may be necessary,” said Sparisci.

Former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher says that when he was racing, “there would have been no penalty” for a Vettel-Hamilton-like incident: “But based on the current rules, the time penalty is correct,” the German told Sky Deutschland – “Of course, these rules do limit racing, and so personally I like the old regulations better,” Schumacher added – “I understand that Ferrari is trying to overturn the decision, but instead they might want to work on changing the rules so that this does not happen in the future.” – he concluded.

Update:

Ferrari have been summoned to a hearing at Le Castellet on Friday, where the team will present evidence over the attempts to reverse the decision to penalise Sebastian Vettel, stripping him of victory at the Canadian Grand Prix two weeks ago. The stewards were swift in punishing Vettel, who crossed the line first but had already been informed of the decision.

Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari and F1 fans were enraged at the result, which gave the victory to Hamilton, ensuring Mercedes have won all seven races so far this year. Ferrari lodged an immediate intention to appeal, although it was dropped in favour of pursuing a ‘right to review’.

And they will make their case in front of a new panel of race stewards ahead of the French GP this week.