Ferrari has formally requested a right to review Carlos Sainz’s penalty at the Australian Grand Prix.
The Spaniard had five seconds added to his race time for spinning Fernando Alonso at the chaotic restart following the second of three flags during last Sunday’s race.
With the final lap then taking place behind the Safety Car, it meant that sanction dropped Sainz from fourth all the way to 12th in the final result.
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And now the Scuderia will challenge the penalty, noting the other collisions that took place at the same time.
“We did the petition for review of the case, that we’re sending to the FIA,” Vasseur confirmed. “I don’t want to disclose any details of this discussion.
“The only thing is that [Pierre] Gasly and [Esteban] Ocon collided, we also had [Logan] Sargeant and [Nyck] De Vries at Turn 1, and the reaction from the stewards was not the same [as with Sainz].”
The likelihood of a successful right to review seems low with teams having to supply sufficient new evidence to re-open the matter, which Ferrari hasn’t indicated in this case.
However: “What we can expect is at least to have an open discussion with them [FIA] and also for the good of the sport, to avoid to have this kind of decision when you have three cases at the same corner and this indecision,” Vasseur added.
