F1: Haas team protests final results of Australian GP (Rejected!) (Update)

–by Mark Cipolloni–

The FIA stewards have rejected Haas’ protest against the result of Formula 1’s Australian Grand Prix.

A statement from the stewards said: “This determination needed to be done in the context of a timed race event and therefore the decision of Race Control and the Race Director needed to be made promptly; with the exercise of appropriate discretion and by using the most appropriate information available to them at the time.”

–by Mark Cipolloni–

Are they missing Michael Masi yet? The Australian GP was yet another example of the FIA Race Director making poor decisions.

The Haas team have lodged a protest regarding the provisional classification of the 2023 Australian Grand Prix.

Sunday’s Grand Prix at Melbourne saw a late red flag deployed as Haas’s Kevin Magnussen crashed into the Turn 2 barriers, ripping the right-rear wheel off his VF-23. That led to a standing restart in which Carlos Sainz tapped Fernando Alonso into a spin, both Alpines crashed out, and Williams’ Logan Sargeant also collected AlphaTauri’s Nyck de Vries.

Sainz later called his Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix demotion “the most unfair penalty I’ve ever seen in my life” and wants to discuss it with the FIA stewards.

“Before talking to you and saying any really bad stuff or bad words, I’d prefer to go back to the stewards, have a conversation with them and maybe I can come back and talk again.

“Because right now honestly I cannot do it, I think it is too unfair and I don’t feel well to speak.”

Sainz was also handed two penalty points on his license after the stewards found he was “wholly to blame for the collision”.

“Car 14 was significantly ahead of Car 55 at the first corner and nevertheless Car 55 drove into Car 14, causing it to spin and leave the track,” stated the stewards’ document.

“For avoidance of doubt, we took into account the fact that this collision took place at the first lap of the restart, when, by convention, the Stewards would typically take a more lenient view of incidents.

“However, in this particular case, notwithstanding the fact that it was the equivalent of a first lap incident, we considered that there was sufficient gap for Car 55 to take steps to avoid the collision and failed to do so.”

The race was red flagged again and restarted under caution on Lap 58 of 58 – but the order of classification for the restart was reverted to before the previous accident-filled restart had begun, dropping Nico Hulkenberg from P4 to seventh in the provisional classification.

Haas were summoned to the stewards at 1930 local time having lodged a protest over the result of Sunday’s race.

Since Michael Masi was forced out as Race Director, FIA officials have been repeatedly criticized for poor race officiating.

At the last race in Saudi Arabia the stewards came under pressure for handing Alonso a post-race penalty which changed the order, promoting George Russell onto the rostrum after the podium ceremony – only for the penalty to be reversed on review.

The Australian GP featured three unnecessary red flags and we all know that red flags breed more red flags or crashes.

Mercedes driver George Russell has called out the “totally unnecessary” first red flag that has left him questioning the FIA’s decision-making.

Early race leader Russell was burned by the first red flag after pitting under the safety car to rejoin in seventh, only for rivals Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton to effectively earn free tire changes when the race was paused.

In his assessment of the handling of the incident, Russell questioned the FIA’s decision-making.

The Grand Prix Drivers’ Association director said: “I thought the red flag was totally unnecessary. There was obviously quite a bit of gravel on the track, but there was a clear racing line. We’ve seen it far worse in the past.

“It’s sort of reminiscent of the decision of last week in Saudi to bring out the safety car when the car was totally off the track.

“So, I don’t really know what’s going on with some of the decisions at the moment.

“We’re all trying to work together with the FIA to improve things, but it’s seemingly a bit of a challenge.”

Lando Norris implied that the red flags were not dictated by safety, but more about artificially creating drama to make the race more exciting and, as a result, the red flags caused more crashing.

Norris said: “The whole point of red flagging it, it feels like was just to put on a show.

“I’m the one driving the car so I just feel like I could have been so unlucky through no reason. I easily could have crashed with [Nico] Hulkenberg at the end because there’s people going off and you’re suddenly swerving and things like that.

“Because they try and put on a show, you just get unlucky and everything can get taken away from you all of a sudden.”

Final Race Results (Finished Under Yellow)

Provisional results. Note – Perez scored an additional point for setting the fastest lap of the race. Sainz received a five-second time penalty for causing a collision.