Ferrari asks FIA to review Sebastian Vettel's Mexican GP penalty

[bigbadbrother]

Adam Cooper


Ferrari has asked the FIA to review the penalty that Sebastian Vettel received in Mexico for moving under braking while defending from Daniel Ricciardo.

Vettel received a time penalty that dropped him from third to fifth. However, his team now believes that new evidence has emerged that allows it to challenge the decision.

A statement from the team read: “Scuderia Ferrari has submitted a request to the Stewards of the 2016 Mexican Grand Prix to review their decision to penalize Sebastian Vettel for breach of Article 27.5 of the 2016 F1 Sporting Regulations as a consequence of his driving behavior in Turn 4 of lap 70.

“This has been the first application of Article 27.5 of the 2016 F1 Sporting Regulations as interpreted on the basis of the Race Director's notes on ‘defensive maneuvers’ and effective from the 2016 US Grand Prix.

“Scuderia Ferrari considers that a number of new elements have come to light after the decision was rendered that make the decision reviewable under Article 14.1 of the International Sporting Code.

“Scuderia Ferrari is aware that championship rankings will not change, regardless of the outcome. But in light of its importance as a precedent for the future, and in order to provide clarity in the application of the rules in future events, Scuderia Ferrari believes that the decision should be reconsidered by the Stewards.”

Earlier on Thursday, Vettel made it clear that he did not agree with the original decision: “Obviously I don’t agree with the decision that was made. I think I moved over once to defend my position, after that yeah, I think I gave Daniel enough room on the inside; I kept the car straight for more than the majority of the braking, so I think the reason why, from my point of view, why Daniel locked up so bad is because there was no grip on the inside and it’s something that I think we all knew.

“There were people locking up on other corners when they were offline, so I think it actually looks a bit worse than it was. I don’t think it was actually dangerous for Daniel at that point but OK, I have to deal with the decision.”

[bigbadbrother]

Adam Cooper


Ferrari’s attempt to have Sebastian Vettel’s Mexican GP penalty reviewed by the FIA has failed because the team failed to demonstrate that “new elements” of evidence had been introduced.

Decisions can only be looked at again by the Stewards who were acting on that race weekend, and only if new elements are introduced.

A teleconference took place Friday with the Mexican GP stewards, who were spread around several countries. Ferrari was represented by Jock Clear, and RBR by Christian Horner and team manager Jonathan Wheatley.

The Ferrari “new elements” in essence involved GPS data and the claim that race director Charlie Whiting could have told Max Verstappen to hand his place back – which in effect meant the team was suggesting that Vettel’s actions in his battle with Daniel Ricciardo were justified by that not happening.

However, the FIA decided that there was no “new element” and thus the matter would not progress further.

An FIA statement read: “Scuderia Ferrari argued in its written submission that the ‘new element,’ in accordance with Article 14.1, existed. In its verbal submissions it also argued that there were two ‘new elements.’

“Specifically the Scuderia argued that the Race Director, pursuant to Article 27.4 of the FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations, had the ‘power’ to instruct the driver of Car 33, Max Verstappen, to give back the alleged advantage he had gained when leaving the track on a previous lap to that of the incident involving Car 5 and Car 3 driven by Daniel Riccardo.

“Scuderia Ferrari also argued that the GPS data it presented was a ‘new element.’ The Stewards heard extensive verbal submission and argument for all parties. In relation to the matter of the Race Director having the ‘power’ to instruct the driver of Car 33 to give back the alleged advantage, we note firstly that the relevant article gives the Race Director ‘absolute authority’ to allow the driver to give back a position. It does not imply an obligation to do so. The fact that the Race Director did not exercise his discretion is not relevant to the decision taken in Document 38.

“In relation to the GPS data, we note that this data is available to teams during the race. It is also available to, and referred to by, the stewards, in the Stewards Room during the race.

“When asked if the GPS data in any way contradicted the telemetry and other evidence that the Stewards concluded showed that the driver of Car 5 had steered whilst under braking at Turn 4, Mr. Clear conceded that it did not.

“Article 14.2 of the International Sporting Code gives the Stewards the sole discretion to determine if a new element exists. Having received all the written and verbal submissions and carefully considered them, the Stewards decide there is no new element.”