The US GP was already an interesting race, partly due to the challenge posed towards Red Bull and Max Verstappen by other teams, and partly due to the penalties imposed post-race upon Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc. Formula 1 has already moved on to its penultimate race of the season and a glamorous Las Vegas awaits the high-performance circus.
There ae certain implications remaining from the US GP however, which haven’t been resolved yet and are currently being reviewed by the FIA. The US GP had also involved a lot of disrespect from fans towards Max Verstappen and the hovering investigations are still underway.
FIA summoned representatives of four F1 teams over US GP decision
Haas F1 team evoked their right to review after the race feeling unfair about certain decisions that were taken throughout the race. This has prompted FIA to involve the concerned teams and ask for representatives from each one of them, such that the issue is resolved soon.
The team representatives from 4 teams, viz Red Bull, Aston Martin, Williams and Haas have been summoned to discuss the matter as such and the hearing will be on Wednesday.
Under Article 14.1.1 of the FIA International Sporting Code,
“If, in Competitions forming part of an FIA Championship, cup, trophy, challenge or series, or of an international series, a significant and relevant new element is discovered which was unavailable to the parties seeking the review at the time of the decision concerned, the stewards who have given a ruling or, failing this, those designated by the FIA, may decide to re-examine their decision following a petition for review.”
The appeal was a point of concern among many teams and Haas officially lodged a complaint seeking fair play. They even submitted proofs and photographs supporting their claims with multiple allegations which could affect the driver standings and US GP results.
Looking back at the US GP incident in the spotlight
The incident in question is the breaching of track limits by drivers in the non-policed or less affected areas of track that helped them gain advantage over other drivers. The US GP saw a lot of track-based penalties throughout the race and even more situations have furnished now that Haas has brought in new material to present before the FIA.
The American team has provided multiple onboard images that support the right to review and put drivers involved in question for a probable penalty. The drivers involved are Lance Stroll, Fernando Alonso, Logan Sargeant and Sergio Perez.
The most notable breach of track limits in less noticed zones of the track has been attributed to Alex Albon, who notably got away at track limit beaches many times at Turn 6 during the race. The stewards clarified Albon’s case explaining, “Based on the video footage available (which did not include CCTV), the Stewards determine, whilst there might be some indication for possible track limit infringements in Turn 6, the evidence at hand is not sufficient to accurately and consistently conclude that any breaches occurred and therefore take no further action.” This induced Haas to call forth a right of review over US GP.
Do you think the regulation changes have caused even more track limit related issues than the past? What are your suggestions regarding track limits?
