Ferrari appeals against Sainz’s penalty at the Australian GP – Corriere.it

“We asked for a review. For the team, for Carlos, and for the good of F1: They didn’t even give us a chance to defend ourselves.” Fred Vasseur goes on the attack, for Ferrari the Australian GP — the worst of the season: zero points — hasn’t ended yet. Against the penalty to Sainz, 5 seconds which relegated him to twelfth, a review request was presented to the FIA. With the difficult goal of overturning the ruling by the Melbourne stewards, defined by the Spanish driver as “the most unfair in recent years”. Carlos had been very harsh – “They robbed us” -, the team already at Albert Park could have protested but did not and now relies on another tool provided for by the regulation.

The “right of review”, which allows the reopening of the case in the presence of new elements of which one was not aware at the time of the judgment (video, telemetry data, etc) . It is therefore up to Maranello to provide unpublished and useful evidence to exonerate Sainz, guilty of having caused the accident with Alonso. Carlos was in fourth position at the time of the contact. “We expect to reopen the discussion – adds Vasseur – in the same round we saw that the incident between Gasly and Ocon was treated differently (no responsible ed). Carlos’s is a special case, the race was almost over and giving a penalty like this without even hearing it is not good». The stewards will first have to express themselves on the admissibility of the review, if so, they will set a hearing, perhaps before the Baku GP on 30 April. “I don’t criticize the stewards’ work, judging is always difficult, I have been working in racing for 33 years, and in a complex race like the Australian one it is even more so”.

Vasseur does not reveal “the new elements” in his favor. However, the latest Ferrari precedent is not favorable: the appeal in 2019 in Canada (obstruction on Hamilton) did not give Vettel the victory. Yesterday as today, wounded pride mattered more than the result. Even the beginning of that season — Mattia Binotto’s first as team principal — had been difficult, Mercedes had won the first eight races. This 2023, however, seems even more troubled.

Vasseur also talks about Charles Leclerc’s tough moment, two retirements in three races. «His motivation is always the same, it wasn’t an easy start for him. The most important thing is to ensure that everyone pushes in the same direction. The mood in the team is incredibly good compared to the level of pressure they are under. Everyone is focused and motivated. We didn’t get the results we expected but we are working to get them».

The French team principal then gave a few more details on the SF-23 update plan: «They will arrive after Baku. From Miami, Imola and Barcelona we will have news, in Melbourne we were already much better. There will be no upheavals of the concept, it would not make sense to start again now from a blank sheet. Baku will give us other indications: it’s an extreme track where a gust of wind can change everything. With two qualifications and two races (the first Sprint of the season in addition to the real GP ed) is not the right place to try developments».