FIA dismisses Ferrari's request to review Sainz penalty

Ferrari has had its petition for a right of review of Carlos Sainz’s penalty in the Australian Grand Prix dismissed by the stewards.

Sainz was given a five-second time penalty for hitting Fernando Alonso on what proved to be the final race restart in Melbourne, with the stewards at the time stating that despite it being the equivalent of a first-lap incident – when such collisions are generally treated with greater leniency – they “considered that there was sufficient gap for Sainz to take steps to avoid the collision and failed to do so”.

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As the race then ended under a safety car, Sainz was demoted from fourth place to 12th and failed to score a point, leading to Ferrari’s petition. That required a significant and relevant new element to be submitted that would lead to the stewards re-opening the investigation. However, the Ferrari petition was dismissed on Tuesday.

Ferrari had argued that the significant and relevant new elements were telemetry from Sainz’s car, a witness statement from Sainz and other driver’s witness statements including Fernando Alonso’s post-race comments.

Reviewing those items, the stewards stated that they “have access to a considerable amount of telemetry data” and that the telemetry showed that Sainz braked harder but couldn’t stop due to a lack of grip when racing Pierre Gasly.

The stewards add that “the conditions of the track and the tires was something that every competitor needed to take into account and adapt to. In trying to brake late while racing Gasly, he adopted the risk that he, as a driver, would lose control of his car. In this case, that risk materialized, with the consequence of a collision that ensued, for which a penalty follows.”

The comments from the drivers were also not deemed significant or relevant because the stewards reiterated they would have investigated after the race in order to hear from the drivers involved if they thought statements would be relevant.

With the petition dismissed, the investigation will not be reopened and the penalty stands, confirming the result from Melbourne.