Carlos Sainz Jr. still believes that the penalty handed out to him for clashing with Fernando Alonso at turn one on the lap fifty-seven restart in the Australian Grand Prix is ‘disproportionate’, and he feels the FIA should have given Scuderia Ferrari the opportunity to fight it.
Sainz spun his countryman around at the opening turn after a late restart at Albert Park, with chaos then ensuing behind them. The two BWT Alpine F1 Team drivers collided at the exit of the turn, while Nyck de Vries, Logan Sargeant and Sergio Pérez, amongst others, getting caught up in incidents.
Stewards in Australia put the blame for the incident firmly on Sainz, with a five-second time penalty relegating him from fourth on the road to twelfth at the chequered flag, meaning he missed out on the top ten.
Sainz was extremely vocal about the penalty in Australia, and Ferrari opted to put in a ‘right of review’ post-race, believing they had enough information to overturn the penalty. However, after a hearing on Tuesday, the FIA threw out the review and confirmed the result.
The Spaniard will turn his focus now to the Azerbaijan Grand Prix at the end of April but remains certain that the penalty was unjustified, and decision making within the FIA Formula 1 World Championship needs to be made clearer and more consistent going forward.
“Very disappointed that the FIA did not grant us a right to review,” Sainz spoke on his official Twitter account.
“Two weeks later, I still think the penalty is too disproportionate and I believe it should have at least been reviewed on the basis of the evidence and reasoning we presented.
“We have to continue working together to improve certain things for the future. The consistency and decision making process has been a hot topic for many seasons now and we need to be clearer for the sake of our own sport.
“What happened in Australia is now in the past and I am 100% focused on the next race in Baku.”
