Carlos Sainz doubles down on FIA criticism after Ferrari complaints dismissed

19 April 2023 , 09:57

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Carlos Sainz remains upset about his penalty in Melbourne (Image: Hussein Malla/AP/REX/Shutterstock)

Carlos Sainz maintains his displeased attitude towards his "disproportionate" penalty at the Australian Grand Prix despite the FIA's dismissal of his team's appeal.

The Ferrari driver picked up a five-second penalty after colliding with the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso in the final standing-start in Melbourne. The Spaniard crossed the line in fourth position, but the penalty pushed him outside of the points.

Sainz expressed his anger with the decision after the race, describing it as: “The most unfair penalty I've ever seen in my life." Team principal Frederic Vasseur later lodged a right of review request and the appeal was heard on Tuesday afternoon.

The FIA quickly threw out the case, and stated: "There is no significant and relevant new element which was unavailable to the parties seeking the review at the time of the decision concerned. The Petition is therefore dismissed."

Ferrari accepted the stewards' decision and said in a statement: "We are naturally disappointed and felt that we had provided sufficient significant new elements for the FIA to re-examine the decision especially in the context of the particular conditions and multiple incidents that occurred during the final restart. We are however respectful of the process and of the FIA decision."

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The team went on, however, to suggest it remains displeased with the standards of officiating in Formula 1. "We are now looking forward to entering broader discussions with the FIA, F1 and all the Teams, with the aim of further improving the policing of our sport, in order to ensure the highest level of fairness and consistency that our sport deserves."

And Sainz maintained his dissatisfaction over having been penalised. He wrote on social media: "I think the penalty is too disproportionate and I believe it should at least been reviewed on the basis of the evidence and reasoning we have presented. What happened in Australia is now in the past and I am 100% focused on the next race in Baku."

Two other incidents occurred during the final standing-start in Melbourne, but neither of them resulted in any punishments being handed out by the stewards.

Points in Melbourne would have put the Scuderia in the sights of third but instead they currently sit 30 points behind their Mercedes rivals – making the crawl back much harder.

Anna Malyon