FIA finds 'right to review' unjustified: Sainz remains pointless in Australia

Sainz received a five-second time penalty for causing a collision with Fernando Alonso on the final restart of the race in Melbourne. As a result, the Spaniard dropped to outside the points. Ferrari was unhappy with the inconsistency of race control, which did not penalise Pierre Gasly and Logan Sargeant for causing crashes during the same restart.

Important and relevant new element

Ferrari requested a 'right to review' after the Grand Prix. The Italians believed there was an important and relevant new element that was not available at the time the stewards on duty in Melbourne pronounced their punishment for Sainz. According to Ferrari, that element would show that Sainz should not have received a penalty, and thus was supposed to keep his fourth spot in Australia.

The FIA thus decided on Tuesday that there was no reason to reopen the investigation into the incident. Had there been, the stewards would have reconvened for another hearing to reconsider the penalty. The stewards would then have several options, including imposing the same penalty, a different penalty or reversing the decision.

'No new insights'

The hearing at which the appeal was reviewed reportedly lasted between two and three hours. The main part of the FIA's verdict reads, "There is no significant and relevant new element which was unavailable to the parties seeking the review at the time of the decision concerned. The Petition is therefore dismissed."