Aston Martin’s failed protest against Carlos Sainz and Ferrari has highlighted the bloated nature of the FIA sporting regulations.
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The Incident
Aston Martin was concerned with Carlos Sainz’s continued participation in Qualifying for the Chinese GP after the Ferrari driver dipped a rear wheel on the gravel at the exit of the final corner, this would send the Spaniard across the track and into the barrier. Sainz would eventually manage to get the Ferrari going again and return to the pits and eventually back into the session, where he would qualify seventh.
The incident would force Race Control to put out the Red Flag, temporarily pausing the session.
Aston Martin’s Protest
Aston Martin decided to protest the result of Qualifying as they felt that Carlos Sainz should not have participated in the session as he had “stopped” on track.
The team highlighted Article 39.6 of the Sporting Regulations which states:
“Any Driver who stops on the track during the qualifying session …. will not be permitted to take any further part in the session”
On the face of the facts which were agreed with by the stewards it would seen that Aston would have nailed on a successful protest, however, this was not the case.
The Decision
The protest was not successful, with the stewards deciding that they were not able to uphold the protest based on the way the regulations were written and how they had been interpreted.
The stewards conceded that the article (39.6) does state that if a car “stops” then it will not be permitted to participate in the rest of the session, they stated that the rule had not been applied in this manner in the past.
The decision gave examples where cars have “stopped” on track but were allowed to continue in the session, these included examples in Baku, Canada and Monaco, where cars have stopped and would “technically” be in breach of article 39.6, but were permitted to continue in the session.
An FIA team also explained that if a car were to restart (without any outside assistance) in a reasonable time (around 30 seconds) then they would ordinarily be allowed to continue.
The length of time would vary depending on the circumstances. It was also noted that the teams were unable to agree on what would be a “reasonable time” before care could be considered “stopped”.
Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari had stopped for 1 minute and 17 seconds, which was considered to be too long and thus meaning that the car should not have been permitted to continue, however, it was determined that there was no guidance within the regulations or an agreed standard practice that established what would constitute too long being too long. Ultimately, the decision is left to Race Control to make the call.
Fallout
The Aston Martin protest and subsequent denial have highlighted an ongoing issue within the FIA Sporting Regulations, that some issues are too grey, with too many ways to interpret.
Article 39.6, does state that if a car has stopped then it can’t continue in the session, however, who decides what is stopped?
A clearer system is required, maybe if a car has caused a red flag then they will automatically receive a penalty or exclusion from the session.
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