Ferrari And Carlos Sainz To Meet With Stewards For Penalty Hearing After Australian GP Controversy

Ferrari and Carlos Sainz will be having a hearing with the Australian GP stewards next week.

It has been revealed that Ferrari's request for a review of the time penalty handed to their driver Carlos Sainz during the Australian Grand Prix will be heard next week. Despite being fourth to cross the line, Sainz was relegated to twelfth place as a result of the penalty, which was given for his collision with Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso during a race restart.

According to reports, the stewards of the Grand Prix received a letter from Nikolas Tombazis, the FIA's single-seater director, along with a petition from Ferrari dated 6th April. The petition was made under Article 14 of the FIA International Sporting Code and requested a review of the stewards' decision during the 2023 Australian Grand Prix. Ferrari is requesting that the stewards consider the petition and make a determination on whether or not a significant and relevant new element exists in relation to the incident.

Sainz, as well as team representatives, are expected to attend a virtual hearing with the stewards on 18th April at 08:00 CET to discuss the petition. During the hearing, Ferrari must present a "significant and relevant new element" that was not available to the stewards at the time of the incident. If they can do so successfully, the appeal process will continue. However, many in the F1 community believe that there is little chance of a new element being presented.

The penalty has been met by a huge amount of backlash from fans and other drivers, especially as Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon had a similar crash at the same restart, as well as Logan Sargeant and Nyck de Vries. However, the two Alpine drivers were able to discuss the crash with the stewards before any decisions were made and the collision between Sargeant and De Vries was not picked up on at all. 

Fans will be eagerly waiting to see the results of the hearing next week ahead of the next race in Azerbaijan at the end of the month.