FIA rejects Ferrari appeal against Sainz penalty

Ferrari's Carlos Sainz Jr. and Mercedes' George Russell make a turn during qualifying session for the F1 US Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, in October 2022. (AFP/File)
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  • Sainz was given a five-second penalty for crashing into Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso just after a restart
  • The stewards' ruling on Tuesday shows Ferrari presented telemetry from Sainz's car

PARIS: The FIA has rejected an attempt by Ferrari to overturn a penalty which cost Carlos Sainz Jr. fourth place at the Australian Grand Prix.
Sainz was given a five-second penalty for crashing into Aston Martin鈥檚 Fernando Alonso just after a restart. The race finished on a safety car lap, so the time penalty pushed Sainz down to last of the 12 finishers and he scored no points.
The stewards鈥� ruling on Tuesday shows Ferrari presented telemetry from Sainz鈥檚 car, a statement from the Spanish driver and comments from other drivers in interviews to make an argument that Sainz had low grip on cold tires with the sun in his eyes, and couldn鈥檛 slow the car down enough to avoid Alonso.
The stewards, including former F1 driver Enrique Bernoldi, ruled there was 鈥渘o significant and relevant new element鈥� in Ferrari鈥檚 evidence which wasn鈥檛 already clear when the penalty was issued in Australia.
鈥淭he conditions of the track and the tires was something that every competitor needed to take into account and adapt to,鈥� the ruling stated. 鈥淚n trying to brake late while racing (Pierre Gasly), (Sainz) 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.鈥�